Syria switches from dollars to euros

Syria switches from dollars to euros

Syria switches from dollars to euros

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

DAMASCUS, Syria -- Syria has switched the primary hard currency it uses for foreign goods and services from the U.S. dollar to the euro in a bid to make it less vulnerable to pressure from Washington.

The decree signed by Syrian Prime Minister Naji al-Otari on Monday ordered government bodies and public-sector companies to use euros to pay for foreign transactions, including payment for exports.

The head of the state-run Commercial Bank of Syria, Dureid Dergham, was quoted as saying Tuesday that the switch to euros was "important and necessary in light of the current U.S. threats against Syria, and the ensuing complications in banking procedures and transfer operations to Syria from U.S. and European banks."

"The step aims at avoiding any future disturbances," Dergham told the state newspaper Al-Thawra. Dergham was not available for comment Tuesday.

U.S.-Syria relations have been poor for years over Damascus' support for Palestinian militant groups and Hezbollah, and U.S. allegations - denied by Syria - that its government was assisting the insurgency in Iraq and pursuing weapons of mass destruction.

Relations worsened after the former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri was assassinated a year ago in Beirut. U.S. Ambassador Margaret Scobey was recalled shortly after the killing, which many Lebanese blamed on Syria.


A U.N. commission investigating the assassination has implicated top Syrian security officials and accused Damascus of trying to obstruct the probe.