Syrian Pound

The Syrian pound (sign: LS or £S; Arabic: الليرة السورية al-līra as-sūriyya, French: livre syrienne; ISO code: SYP) is the currency of Syria and is issued by the Central Bank of Syria. The pound is subdivided into 100 qirsh (Arabic: قرش plural: قروش, qorush, piastres in English or French), although coins in qirsh are no longer issued.

Before 1947, the word qirsh was spelled with the initial Arabic letter غ, after which the word began with ق. Until 1958, banknotes were issued with Arabic on the obverse and French on the reverse. After 1958, English has been used on the reverses, hence the three different names for this currency. Coins used both Arabic and French until Syrian independence, then only Arabic.

The standard abbreviation for the Syrian pound is SYP. On 5 December 2005, the selling rate quoted by the Commercial Bank of Syria was 58.4 SYP to the US dollar. A rate of about 50 pounds to one dollar has been usual in the early 2000s, but the exchange rate is subject to fluctuations. During the Syrian uprising against the president Bashar Al Assad, the exchange rate of the Syrian pound has deteriorated quickly from 47 SYP to 1 USD in March 2011 to over 100 SYP to 1 USD in March 2012. Hard currencies such as the USD, CAD, GBP or Euro cannot be bought from banks or exchange companies; the black market is the only source of foreign currencies available to Syrian businessmen, students and those who want to travel abroad. The maximum amount that is allowed to be taken out with the Syrian traveler is 3,000 USD per flight per year. Any amount in excess of 3,000 USD is confiscated by the authorities and the Syrian traveler will risk spending a long time in what is called "economic affairs court". The Syrian pound is not a hard currency, and there are restrictions on its export (the maximum amount is 2,500 SYP per person).

Since the start of the Syrian civil war in 2011, the Syrian pound has lost about half of its value.