Syria is planning to settle trade payments in currencies other than the
U.S. dollar and euro in order to preserve its foreign exchange reserves
and counter the effect of economic sanctions, the country's central bank
governor was quoted as saying Thursday.
The Central Bank of Syria has proposed "a work mechanism to
settle the payments with friendly countries in their own respective
currencies without having to resort to the U.S. dollar or the euro,"
central bank governor Adib Mayaleh told a group of Syrian
industrialists, according to the official Syrian Arab News Agency.
The report did not mention the countries whose currencies
would be used as an alternative to the dollar and euro, though last year
the central bank floated a plan to create a basket of currencies
including the Russian ruble, the Chinese yuan and the Iranian rial to
finance imports from those and other countries.
Russia, China and Iran
have continued to back the government of President Bashar al Assad in
the face of tightening international sactions.
The new proposals "would help render the effect of American,
European and Arab sanctions imposed on Syria...and consequently maintain
the level of foreign currencies' reserves, as well as strengthen the
economic, commercial and banking bonds with these (friendly) countries,"
Mr. Mayaleh said Thursday, according to SANA.
Syria's Finance Minister Mohammed Al Jleilati said last
September that Syria's reserves stood at around $18 billion, though U.S.
officials believe they have since dropped below that level.
Last year, the Syrian government briefly introduced an import
ban in order to conserve foreign exchange, but the measure was lifted
after protests from the business community about rising prices.