Central Bank holds new intervention session

21/09/2014

Damascus, SANA – The Central Bank of Syria (CBS) held a new intervention session on Sunday during it which it obligated each currency exchange company to purchase a sum of foreign currency ranging between USD 1 million and 500,000.

Representatives of exchange companies said that the market has responded actively to the steps taken by the CBS recently, with exchange rates improving by about SYP 10, as the USD price dropped from SYP 192/195 to around 184/185.

They said that there’s a state of wary anticipation in the market and there’s a lull in speculators’ activity because they can’t predict the CBS’ steps or the prices it sets, showing that these steps are proving effective in countering the panics that speculators start every now and then.

In turn, CBS Governor Mayyaleh pledged to hold more intervention sessions and take all possible steps to return the exchange rate to an acceptable level, with a new session to be held on Tuesday.

Mayyaleh had warned speculators recently of the risk of their actions, saying that the CBS will take measures that will result in heavy losses for those who attempt to manipulate the stability of the SYP exchange rate.

Hazem Sabbagh