Exchange companies in the Syrian capital recently closed their doors after the regime’s Central Bank announced its intention to force companies to buy one million dollars, and offices to buy 100,000 dollars, under penalty of liability and being shut down if they refuse.
The companies stopped their work on the pretext of a technical problem in the network, in what appeared to be an attempt to avoid carrying out the Central Bank’s deal.
Media circles close to the regime indicated that the exchange companies sustained a heavy blow last time from the Central Bank when it sold them a million dollars at the price of 620 Syrian pounds to the dollar, later lowering the official price to 570 and then again to 470 pounds.
These circles added that the exchange companies appear to want a pledge from the Central Bank that it does not intend to lower the official price of the dollar under the excuse that the injection into the market was what pushed the dollar to decline last month.
In the same context, loyalist websites revealed that the Central Bank plans to bring the dollar to within 400 pounds this month, along with the announcement of the new government, in hopes of reducing the prices of goods and foodstuffs.
Observers said that the regime has no interest in reducing the price of the dollar in the current period, especially after raising the price of fuel by 40 percent, adding that fluctuation in the price is a bigger harm to the economy and its circulation that it remaining at a consistently higher price.
This article was translated and edited by The Syrian Observer. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author.
