Syrian Pound (SYP)

Created in 1953 — seven years after independence from France — the Central Bank of Syria assumed monetary functions previously handled by the Banque de Syrie et du Liban. Historically, the bank pegged the pound to various anchors: the French franc, then the U.S. dollar, and from 2007 to the IMF's Special Drawing Rights basket. The civil war that erupted in 2011 shattered these frameworks entirely. By late 2024, the pound had cratered from LS 47 per dollar to beyond LS 25,000 — devastating the savings of ordinary Syrians.

The Syrian pound traces its origins to 1919, when French authorities — having received the League of Nations mandate over Syria — established the Banque de Syrie to issue local currency. Initially set at 20 French francs per pound, the rate fluctuated with France's own monetary troubles. From 1924 to 1939, Syria and Lebanon shared a unified Syro-Lebanese pound before each territory struck out on its own. The name lira (from Latin libra) still echoes in the pound's Arabic designation, الليرة السورية.

Before French administrators arrived, the Ottoman kuruş and lira circulated throughout Greater Syria for centuries. As part of the Ottoman Empire, the region's commerce flowed through Istanbul-controlled monetary channels — local minting was nonexistent. Ottoman currency reforms in the mid-1800s standardized the gold lira across the empire's vast domains. When Ottoman rule collapsed after World War I, a patchwork of Egyptian pounds, British military currency, and remnant Ottoman coins briefly filled the vacuum before France imposed its mandate monetary system.

Following Bashar al-Assad's fall from power, Syria's transitional government undertook a historic redenomination on January 1, 2026. The reform stripped two zeros — every 100 old pounds converted to 1 new pound. Six redesigned banknotes (LS 10 through LS 500) entered circulation, featuring natural imagery like the Damask rose and olive groves instead of political portraits. President Ahmad al-Sharaa described the design philosophy as