Less than ten days after he was quoted as saying that a partial float of the Syrian Pound was underway, the Governor of the Central Bank of Syria said on Tuesday that there was no such plan and that press reports on the subject were based on fiction.
On January 19, the Government had announced that licensed money traders would be allowed to trade currencies with no price limitations, a move that partially ended some 5 decades of currency price regulations by the Syrian authorities. The move was followed by statements by Adib Mayaleh, the Governor, to the Financial Times and Bloomberg that a partial float of the Pound would begin as soon as last week.
 
The twin decision and announcement helped temporarily reduce the pressure on the Syrian Pound, which regained some value against the dollar and other foreign currencies. However, last week ended without any announcement with regards to the float.
 
Mr Mayaleh has now told the Syrian official news agency SANA that a float would require a number of preliminary measures but that the focus of the Central Bank was on reducing the gap between the official and market rates of the national currency.
 
 
Since the beginning of the popular uprising in the country in March 2011, the Central Bank has taken several measures to prevent a run on the national currency.  
 
The US dollar was traded today at around 58 pounds by the Central Bank, at some 70 pounds by licensed brokers and at around 73 pounds in the black market.