DAMASCUS —
Syria's nose-diving pound hit a new record
low Saturday against the dollar on the black market, according to websites
monitoring the exchange rate, as the country faces severe fuel shortages.
اضافة اعلان
The Syrian economy has been battered by more than 11 years
of war and crippling Western sanctions, pushing 90 percent of the population
into poverty, according to the UN.
The exchange rate reached more than 6,000 Syrian pounds to
the US dollar for the first time, the websites said, driving up the price of
goods.
Syria's official exchange rate has stood at around 3,015
pounds to the greenback since September — compared to 47 pounds to the dollar
in 2011.
The unofficial rate means the
currency is now worth almost 99 percent less on the black market than the
official rate before the start of the conflict.
Chronic fuel shortages in the war-torn country have
intensified in recent weeks, prompting the government to adopt austerity
measures including temporarily instating a reduced working week in the public
sector.
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