SYRIA: Ruler of the Syrian Central Bank Adib Mayyaleh announces that Syria is to extend its boycott of the U.S. dollar

Syria is to extend its boycott of the U.S. dollar, The ruler of the Syrian Central Bank announced on Saturday (January 13). The decision, announced by Adib Mayyaleh, has been made so that Syria can pay external debts and combat U.S. economic sanctions. Over the past year Syria's foreign currency surplus has already been switched to euros and the sum used to pay off external debts. In addition, the euro was used as the currency in recent agreements with a number of countries, aimed at addressing the country's external debt of some three billion U.S. dollars. Mayyaleh told reporters in Damascus: "To avoid the effects of the American ban on the Syrian Commercial Bank, the Syrian Central Bank decided to deal with the euro instead of the U.S dollar in all public section transactions following the decision number 184 dated on January 23, 2006." U.S. President George W. Bush imposed economic sanctions on Syria in 2004. The U.S. Treasury later decided to cut ties with the Syrian Central Bank, responsible for all of the government's financial transactions abroad. Sanctions imposed on the Commercial Bank of Syria forced all American banks to sever ties with the group. Mayyaleh also pointed out his government's efforts to stop money laundering, saying: "We must talk about the great efforts and the successes made by Syria in struggling against money laundering and terrorism financing. A unit was found in the Syrian Central Bank to control the bank operations and everything related to money laundering and terrorism financing."

ITN Source | January 13, 2007

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