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UPDATE: Iran's IRGC says it struck two tankers attempting to cross Strait of Hormuz
9 hours ago
The central banks of Turkey and Syria have signed a bilateral deal allowing Damascus to open a Turkish lira-denominated deposit account at the Turkish monetary authority, Turkey’s central bank said on July 29.
The agreement was signed by Turkish governor Fatih Karahan and his Syrian counterpart Mohammad Safwat Raslan, according to an official statement released in Ankara.
In 2025, Ziraat Bank applied to open a branch in Syria. It is still awaiting a reply from local authorities to further the process. It is not certain whether the expansion will be in the form of a subsidiary or a branch.
Ziraat Bank, fully-owned by Turkey’s sovereign wealth fund (TWF/TVF), is the largest lender in Turkey.
On July 1, Syria’s central bank re-opened its branch in Idlib, located on the western border with Turkey, after a 10-year closure. Raslan said the central bank plans to “gradually withdraw the Turkish lira from circulation in Idlib” and stop injecting additional Turkish currency into Syria, following arrangements agreed with the Turkish side.
He encouraged residents to use the “Syrian pound” for all financial transactions.
On July 27, Syria’s central bank said that the deadline for exchanging old banknotes from the Assad era with the new regime’s new banknotes would end on July 30, marking the completion of the country's currency replacement programme following the achievement of a high completion rate.
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