Syria to license bank accounts in hard currency

The Syrian official news agency SANA said that Syria on Thursday inclined towards facilitating trade by licensing bank accounts with foreign currencies and money transfers by hard currencies.

SANA explained that the minister of the economy and foreign trade Ghassan al- Refai issued a series of decisions which pave the way for Syrians and others to open bank accounts in foreign currencies in the state owned Syrian commercial bank.

SANA indicated that these decisions will make it possible also to transfer salaries in foreign currencies to the Syrians who live abroad. The minister also said that the new decisions will permit every pilgrimage to carry USD 1000 (one thousand) for his travel and to require non-resident Arab citizens to bring in hard currencies and sell them legally to one of the licensed banks when these non-resident Arabs want to buy real estate in Syria.