Syria will be fully connected to the international payment system SWIFT within the next few weeks.
This was stated by the new head of the countryʼs central bank Abdulkader Husrije in an interview with the Financial Times.
This would reconnect Syria to the global economy after 14 years of war and sanctions that have made it a rogue state.
The return to the SWIFT system was the first major step in the new governmentʼs liberalization reform of the Syrian economy — and evidence that the new authorities are moving quickly, seeking to return to international trade and attract investment after the lifting of US sanctions last month.
In an interview, Husriyeh outlined a roadmap for reforming the countryʼs financial system and monetary policy to revive the shattered economy. He hopes to bring back foreign investment, remove trade barriers, normalize the currency, and reform the banking sector.
“We are looking to strengthen the country’s brand as a financial center, given the expected foreign direct investment in recovery and infrastructure — this is key,” he said.
Syria has been cut off from global markets since 2011, when then-President Bashar al-Assad brutally suppressed a popular uprising that led to a full-scale civil war. When Assad was overthrown by Ahmed al-Sharaa and his rebel alliance last December, the countryʼs economy was in free fall and the state treasury was nearly empty.
Many experts doubted that an armed group with minimal experience in governing the country could save it. But within weeks of taking power, the new leadership outlined reforms toward a free-market economy — replacing Assad’s tightly controlled economy — and demonstrated openness and transparency that helped attract foreign investors who had initially been wary of doing business with Islamist rebels.
- On December 8, 2024, the Syrian opposition entered the Syrian capital, Damascus, and overthrew the regime of President Bashar al-Assad, who had been in power for 24 years. Assad himself fled to Moscow.
- Syrian rebels formed a transitional government, led by Muhammad Bashir, who led the "Salvation Government" — a political structure created in 2017 in territories controlled by the Syrian opposition, primarily in the province of Idlib.
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