Seven Days to Deadline
The Central Bank of Syria has set the end of July 2026 as the point at which old Syrian pound (SYP) banknotes cease to circulate and are replaced by a newly issued currency. On 23 July 2026 the bank announced that seven days remained before the exchange period closes, urging citizens to complete their transactions rather than wait until the final days.
Eighty Percent Exchanged
The bank's governor, Muhammad Safwat Raslan, said roughly 80 percent of the currency in circulation had already been exchanged, describing the effort as a "successful national operation" aimed at modernizing the monetary system and strengthening confidence in the financial sector.
He added that regulatory frameworks for licensing digital wallets and electronic payment services would be issued soon, part of a push to broaden payment options and reduce reliance on cash.
The Small-Change Squeeze
Despite the progress, markets still lack most small and medium denominations. Notes of 10, 25, 50 and 100 lira are largely absent, leaving 200 and 500 lira notes to dominate everyday transactions.
Shopkeepers, minibus drivers and street vendors depend on smaller notes to make change, and their scarcity is beginning to complicate routine buying and selling across the country.
Pressure to Extend
Finance and banking professor Abd Al-Rahman Muhammad argued that ending old-currency circulation by the end of July is "practically impossible" without first injecting sufficient quantities of small notes, and that a deadline extension is the most realistic outcome.
He warned that cutting off old notes prematurely could paralyze cash-dependent sectors, push some transactions into an unofficial old-note market, and nudge prices upward as vendors round figures to the smallest available denomination.
A Test of Confidence
No official signal of an extension had emerged by publication, and the bank continued to accept exchange requests within the scheduled timeframe. The changeover amounts to a test of the monetary authority's ability to manage logistics while preserving public trust, with fixed-income earners most exposed if daily transactions are disrupted.