One Exchange Point, Long Lines
Residents of Raqqa are crowding the city's post office, the only site handling the swap of old Syrian pound (SYP) banknotes for the new currency, ahead of a deadline set for 30 July 2026. Waits stretch for hours, and some denominations run short during the day.
The absence of public bank branches in the area has concentrated the entire exchange onto a single counter, slowing a process that residents describe as orderly but overwhelmed.
Fees Eat Into Savings
Beyond the official channel, private exchange offices are charging to convert cash. One case cited a fee of about 15,000 pounds to exchange 100,000 pounds, a levy that falls hardest on residents holding larger sums.
Complaints center on the added cost, slow procedures and the limited availability of specialized staff at outlying district centers.
Central Bank's Timeline
The central bank says it has exchanged roughly 80 percent of the old banknotes across the country. Old notes remain legal tender through the end of 30 July 2026.
After that date, holders will still be able to exchange remaining old currency directly through the central bank for a further five years, though not through the everyday retail channels available now.
A Test in the Northeast
The regional postal director, Hassan Abdullah Ghannam, characterized the changeover as a successful national process, but Raqqa illustrates the strain of introducing new money where formal banking is thin. Residents have called for additional trained staff at local branch centers to clear the backlog before the cutoff.
The central bank's governor, Muhammad Safwat Raslan, has overseen the wider rollout, which is unifying the cash in circulation under a single issuing authority. With the deadline days away, the shortage of certain denominations at the sole counter has left some residents returning more than once to complete a single exchange.