Despite more than three weeks having passed since the launch of the process to replace the old Syrian pound with the new one, field observations and testimonies from citizens, traders, and money changers confirm that the actual circulation of the new banknotes remains extremely limited and is almost confined to symbolic quantities. There is a particularly striking scarcity of the 500 pound denomination, which is supposed to be the most widely used in daily transactions. The core problem lies in the gap between what is being said about the quantities released and what the citizen actually sees at the money changer’s counter, at the ATM, or in their monthly salary.
This contradiction fuels the hypothesis that certain parties are collecting the new pound to achieve illicit profits, whether through smuggling, speculation, or money laundering. According to the simplest standards of monetary governance, the absence of transparency in currency management constitutes a breach of the duty of public disclosure and undermines confidence in monetary policy at an extremely sensitive stage. The continued dominance of the old pound in markets nearly a month after the replacement process began places regulatory bodies and the Central Bank before a fundamental question: is the replacement process proceeding at the pace announced by the Central Bank of Syria? In addition, open questions remain awaiting answers: how many billions of new pounds have actually been released into circulation? Where are they currently concentrated? Who monitors their path from the printing press to the citizen’s hand? And why does the market not feel their presence despite announcements of their availability?
Simple calculations and worrying conclusions
If the injection of the new pound continues at this slow pace, replacing the entire old monetary mass could take many long years, which contradicts the official discourse that spoke of “releasing billions of pounds” into the market. Here the paradox emerges: if the billions have indeed been released, where are they?
Banking and financial expert Dr Ahmad Jalal al-Din believes, in statements to +963, that there are three hypotheses explaining the absence of the new pound in light of the lack of transparent data on the quantities actually released and the mechanism of their distribution. The first is the hoarding of the new pound for profit, whereby influential parties collect the new currency and refrain from injecting it into the market in order to smuggle it abroad, especially to neighboring countries, hand it over to informal exchange networks, or use it to speculate on the exchange rate or to replace old pounds held outside the country in exchange for high commissions.
The second possibility, according to Jalal al-Din, is that the process serves as a gateway for laundering corruption funds, a more dangerous hypothesis that points to the potential use of the replacement process as a cover to transfer undisclosed funds or to replace cash masses resulting from corruption or theft with new “clean” banknotes without passing through effective auditing channels. Finally, there may be a malfunction or collusion at replacement centers. Here the possibility is divided into two paths with no third option: either the replacement centers do not receive sufficient quantities in the first place, meaning the problem lies at the level of distributing the new pound, or the centers receive the quantities but do not inject them, opening the door to accusations of direct smuggling in exchange for commissions.
Jalal al-Din confirms that there was a solution that could have changed the entire scene and ensured the rapid spread of the new pound, had salaries and wages been paid exclusively in the new currency, had internal remittance offices been obliged to use only the new denominations, and had cash bank balances been gradually converted into new banknotes. None of this, however, has happened so far.
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Absent from the market despite the announcement of “billions”
Nearly a month has passed since the launch of the new pound, and Syrians are still trading worn out notes from the old denominations, while the “new pound” has turned into a distant dream. Field monitoring by +963 of markets in several governorates reveals that the actual circulation of the new banknotes remains marginal, limited to small quantities that do not correspond to the scale of daily economic activity. The field tour did not merely document the absence of the currency, but also recorded a state of popular frustration toward the distribution mechanism.
In one of the markets of the capital Damascus, Mohammad, a grocery store owner, tells +963: “Since the replacement began, only one new 500 pound note has entered my shop. I took a photo of it on my phone as if I had found a treasure. Customers ask about it because it is easy to use, but we are forced to trade bundles of old notes that no one accepts due to their damage.”
As for Sara al-Ali, a government employee in Aleppo, she expresses her frustration to +963, saying: “I waited eagerly for my salary hoping to receive the new denominations, but the accountant gave me old notes, some of them taped together. How can they say they released billions? Where do these billions go if they do not reach our salaries?”
Khaled Salim, a lawyer from Latakia, tells +963: “In practice, only very small quantities of the new pound appear in daily transactions, with a striking scarcity of the 500 pound denomination that is supposed to be the backbone of daily cash circulation. This reality contradicts official statements that speak of releasing billions of new pounds as part of the replacement process, which opens the door to doubt about the fate of these cash masses. Where do they go if they do not reach citizens’ hands? If the quantities released were sufficient and the replacement process were proceeding normally, the new pound should be strongly present in markets, wages, remittances, and daily commercial activity, but reality says the opposite.”
Lack of transparency is the biggest problem
Economic researcher Diala al-Khatib confirms, in statements to +963, that a cash replacement process of this scale cannot proceed in this manner. When the new pound does not appear weeks after trading begins, the problem is no longer technical but a clear responsibility that must be identified. Nearly a month after the launch of the replacement of the old pound with the new one, the citizens and the trader are still practically dealing with the old currency, while the new denominations, especially the 500 pound note, remain rare. This reality does not align with any official narrative about “releasing billions of pounds” into the market. The absence of transparency in itself fuels rumors and undermines confidence in the national currency at a stage when confidence is more important than any formal monetary measure. The Central Bank is the sole authority that prints, distributes, and monitors cash. Therefore, the absence of the new pound from the market may represent a failure in monetary management, a refusal to disclose, or both. The Central Bank cannot suffice with saying that “the process is ongoing” without clarifying how much has actually been released, where it has been distributed, and why it has not reached the citizen’s hand in the required manner.
Al-Khatib points out that in monetary policy, lack of transparency is not neutrality but a grave error. Who benefits from keeping the new pound out of circulation? The citizen is the loser. The most dangerous aspect of this scene is that the cash replacement process could turn from a reform tool into a channel for speculation, a means for currency smuggling, or a cover for injecting undisclosed funds into the financial system. Here, the discussion is no longer about a liquidity crisis alone, but about a direct threat to confidence in the national currency.
Al-Khatib concludes that the continuation of this slow replacement pattern effectively means that replacing the entire old monetary mass could take years, which strips the monetary reform plan of its core objective of regulating the market and restoring confidence in the currency. It leaves the economy in a state of “half reform” that increases price instability and speculative behavior. The new pound does not disappear on its own. Either there is a decision to withhold it, a failure to manage it, or a reluctance to reveal the truth. In all cases, responsibility does not lie with the market but with those who manage the currency in the name of the state.
