On February 14, the Central Bank of Syria reported that a cargo plane from Russia arrived at Damascus airport, carrying Syrian pounds printed at the Russian Goznak. According to Reuters, it concerns "hundreds of billions," with sources from the "Al-Hadath" channel being even more specific in their estimates—300 billion Syrian pounds (about 23 million dollars at the official rate).
According to a Reuters source, the money was printed in Russia during Assad's rule, but was not delivered to Syria by the time he was overthrown by Islamist rebels in early December 2024. The new leadership of the country banned the Russian company from continuing the issuance of banknotes, without explaining the reasons for the delivery of previously printed cash on Friday.
After Assad's removal from power, Syria faced a liquidity shortage. In January, the new head of the central bank, Maysa Sabrin, told Reuters that she did not want to activate the printing press for Syrian pounds to avoid a spike in inflation. The Syrian pound strengthened on the black market after the new leadership came to power, aided by the influx of Syrians from abroad and the cessation of strict control over foreign currency trading.
But this raised concerns about the liquidity of Syrian pounds, as Syria faced an acute currency shortage. The central bank has foreign currency reserves of about 200 million dollars in cash, Reuters sources reported, which is significantly less than the 18.5 billion dollars that Syria was estimated to have in 2010, a year before the start of the civil war.
On Wednesday, Vladimir Putin held a phone conversation with Syria's interim leader Ahmed al-Sharaa, during which he noted that Moscow is ready to review bilateral deals made during Assad's time.
Before turning to Russia, Syria printed its money in Austria, but then the country came under European sanctions.