With Assad gone, Syrian pound starts to recover

The Syrian pound has begun to recover against the dollar after president Bashar al-Assad's ouster, moneychangers and traders said Monday as foreign currencies again became available on the local market.

On December 7 -- the day before Damascus fell to a rebel coalition led by the Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group -- the rate had plunged to 30,000 pounds to the dollar, halving the value of the local currency compared to just months previously.

On Monday, however, the exchange rate was between 10,000 pounds and 12,000 pounds to the dollar, a moneychanger, jeweler and a hotel receptionist all told AFP.

A Lebanese taxi driver said he exchanged cash at 9,000 pounds to the dollar before crossing the border.

For the first time in years, the black market rate and the official rate are now equal, in the absence of exchange offices.

"In every other country the currency falls when the regime falls. But here in Syria it seems the opposite applies," said jeweler Raghid Mansur in the Damascus souk.

"There's no fixed rate yet, but the pound is progressively regaining its value," the 74-year-old added.

Professor Qusay Ibrahim, of the economics faculty at Damascus University, says the rise of the pound is linked to "both political and economic factors".

He cited the "influx of dollars" from the zones that had been rebel-held and from "all the foreign journalists and organizations" flocking to Syria after Assad's downfall.

At Bekdash, Damascus's celebrated ice cream and pastry maker where there was a long queue of people on Monday, prices are listed in Syrian pounds, Turkish lira and US dollars.

The former government forbade transactions in any currency other than the Syrian pound, with those caught flouting the law facing up to seven years in prison.

People even avoided saying the word "dollar" in public or on the phone for fear of arrest.

The Syrian pound plunged when the civil war erupted in 2011, losing up to 90 percent of its value.