The Syrian Pound has remained stable in the last two weeks, trading at around 70 pounds per dollar in the black market, as the Central Bank attempts to bring closer slowly, but gradually, its official rate.

On Monday April 23, the dollar was priced in the daily bulletin of the Central Bank at 61.74 pound (sale price). Since the beginning of the month the pound has lost 1.45 pounds to the dollar thanks to a step-by-step approach, which has seen the national currency lose anywhere between 3 to 33 piastres per trading day.

Meanwhile, since early March, the Central Bank has been selling euros and dollars to money dealers at a rate it calls its ’intervention rate’, which is much closer to the black market rate. Hence the dollar is sold at 71.50, while the euro is sold at 94.28 – from 81.46 for the official rate.

The use of the intervention rate enables the Bank to supply the market and undercut black market traders, while foreign exchange dealings continue to be regulated by various restrictions including on the amount of currencies that can be sold or on the use of the currencies by customers.

The relative stability of the Syrian currency can also be explained by a decrease in demand for dollars as imports contract on the back of a decline in spending and investment and high custom tariffs and by a relative stability on the political front following the approval of the Kofi Annan plan and the general decrease in the levels of violence witnessed in the last ten days. The Central Bank said on Monday that the demand for dollars stood this day at USD 300,000 and EUR 0.5 million.

Meanwhile, Adib Mayaleh, the Governor of the Central Bank, has denied reports that his institution has been selling the country’s gold reserves in a bid to raise money for the Government.

A story in Reuters on April 18 quoted traders and diplomats saying that Syria was selling its gold at “rock bottom prices” in order to raise cash. According to the World Gold Council Syria has some 25 tons of gold in reserves worth some USD 1.3 billion at current spot prices, Reuters said.