4 trillion Syrian pounds printed in Russia are waiting to be shipped to Syria
Sources in the Syrian Central Bank said that there is a huge quantity of Syrian currency in the five thousand lira denomination, worth more than 4 trillion liras, are still stored in Russia awaiting shipment to Damascus, despite the fact that years have passed since they were printed during the previous government.
According to the sources, the Russian company Goznak was the entity contracted by the Assad government to print the currency, and it had already implemented the contract and printed large quantities, part of which was transferred to Syria, while the last printing remained unshipped, despite being fully ready.
According to the sources, the problem wasn’t in carrying out the printing, but in the difficulty of transporting the currency due to the international sanctions imposed on Syria, which forced the authorities at the time to use limited flights to transport small batches, without being able to complete the shipping process.
The sources questioned the usefulness of the recent statements made by officials in the current government, most notably the Governor of the Central Bank of Syria, Abdul Qader al Hasriya, regarding the intention to print a new currency and remove zeros, at a time when huge quantities of printed currency are still waiting to be transferred.
The sources confirmed that the printed five thousand lira note doesn’t bear political symbols or references to the former regime, but was designed according to national standards, and the costs of printing it have been fully paid, which makes it necessary to put it into the markets before thinking about issuing a new currency, especially since any project to change the currency will take years before it sees the light of day.
