By Marc Jones
LONDON (Reuters) -Syria hopes that U.S. sanctions against the country will be formally lifted in the coming months and has started the process of restructuring its debt, the country’s Economy Minister Mohammad Nidal al-Shaar told Reuters on Tuesday.
U.S. President Donald Trump ordered most sanctions lifted on the country in May after meeting with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, but the Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act of 2019 authorising them remains U.S. law.
“We have to do some push and some lobbying to continue with this path that started in the right direction, and we’re hoping by the end of the year the bill will reach the president, and hopefully he’ll sign it,” al-Shaar said on the sidelines of a conference in London.
“And once that happens, then we are sanctions-free.”
The government also plans to introduce a new currency early next year, al-Shaar added.
“We’re consulting with many entities, international organisations, experts, and eventually it will come very soon.”
NEW BANKNOTES
Sources told Reuters in August that Syria would issue new banknotes in December, removing two zeros from its currency in an attempt to restore public confidence in the severely devalued pound.
The Syrian pound has lost more than 99% of its value since war erupted in 2011. The exchange rate is now at around 10,000 pounds to the U.S. dollar, compared to 50 before the war, although it has stayed broadly stable in recent months.
The step is intended to strengthen the Syrian pound after its purchasing power collapsed to record lows following a 14-year conflict that ended with President Bashar al-Assad’s ouster in December.
Asked about plans to overhaul the country’s debt burden, al-Shaar said the process had started already.
“The sovereign debt that we have, which is not very big actually, will be restructured,” he said adding that Syria would be asking for grace periods and other relief.
RECONSTRUCTION COSTS
The World Bank estimated the cost of Syria’s reconstruction at $216 billion in a report issued on Tuesday, saying the figure was a “conservative best estimate.”
The bulk of that was “direct physical damages to infrastructure, residential buildings, and non-residential buildings,” it said.
Al-Shaar said the amount could be over a trillion dollars if the rebuild brought the country’s infrastructure up to date, although that would be spread over a long time.
(Reporting by Marc Jones, additional reporting by Timour Azhari; Writing by Karin Strohecker; Editing by Amanda Cooper and Ros Russell)
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