Today’s dollar price in Syria…and salary increases!
The dollar exchange rate in the parallel market in Syria witnessed a slight decline during today’s morning trading. In the capital, Damascus, and the city of Aleppo, the price of the dollar in the parallel market reached 11,400 liras for purchase, and 11,700 liras for sale.
In Idlib, the dollar was traded at 11,450 liras for purchase and 11,650 liras for sale, while in the eastern region (Al-Hasakah) the price of the dollar reached 11,400 liras for purchase and 11,600 liras for sale.
As for the euro, its price on the black market ranged between 11,701 liras for purchase and 12,015 liras for sale, while the price of the Turkish lira recorded 319 liras for purchase and 330 liras for sale.
The Syrian Central Bank set the exchange rate of the dollar against the Syrian pound in banks at 13,000 pounds for purchase and 13,130 pounds for sale, and the average price reached 13,065 pounds per dollar.
The exchange rate of the euro against the Syrian pound reached about 13,399.10 pounds for purchase, and 13,533.08 pounds for sale. As for the Turkish lira, its price was recorded at 367.53 Syrian pounds for purchase, and 371.20 Syrian pounds for sale.
Maysaa Sabreen, Governor of the Central Bank of Syria in charge of managing business, confirmed that the bank has enough liquidity in its coffers to pay salaries after the scheduled 400% increase, according to statements reported by Reuters.
The Syrian Minister of Finance, Muhammad Abazid, announced at the beginning of this month that the government would raise the salaries of public sector employees by 400% during the next month, after completing the restructuring of the ministries to improve efficiency and enhance accountability.
The cost of this increase is estimated at approximately 1.65 trillion Syrian pounds (equivalent to 127 million dollars), and will be financed from the state treasury, in addition to regional aid and new investments, with efforts to recover Syrian assets frozen abroad.
Sabreen stressed that the bank seeks to avoid printing more Syrian pounds, in a step aimed at reducing possible negative repercussions on inflation rates.
She explained that there are ongoing efforts to amend the Syrian Central Bank law to enhance its independence, which represents a major shift from the monetary policy that has been under state control for a long time, and these plans include granting the bank greater freedom in making decisions related to monetary policy, to enable it to perform its role independently and more effectively in Economics management.
