Syria's growth accelerates as sanctions ease, refugees return, central bank chief says

By David Lawder, Susan Heavey and Dan Burns

NEW YORK, Dec 4 (Reuters) - Syria's economy is growing much faster than the World Bank's 1% estimate for 2025 as refugees flow back after the end of a 14-year civil war, fueling plans for the relaunch of the country's currency and efforts to build a new Middle East financial hub, central bank Governor AbdulKader Husrieh said on Thursday.

Speaking via video link at the Reuters NEXT conference in New York, Husrieh also said he welcomed a deal with Visa to establish digital payment systems and added that the country is working with the International Monetary Fund to develop methods to accurately measure economic data to reflect the resurgence.

The Syrian central bank chief, who is helping guide the war-torn country's reintegration into the global economy after the fall of Bashar al-Assad's regime about a year ago, described the repeal of many U.S. sanctions against Syria as "a miracle."

The U.S. Treasury on November 10 announced a 180-day extension of the suspension of the so-called Caesar sanctions against Syria; lifting them entirely requires approval by the U.S. Congress. Husrieh said that based on discussions with U.S. lawmakers, he expects the sanctions to be repealed by the end of 2025, ending "the last episode of the sanctions."

"Once this happens, this will give comfort to our potential correspondent banks about dealing with Syria," he said.

Husrieh also said that Syria was working to revamp regulations aimed at combating money laundering and the financing of terrorism, which he said would provide further assurances to international lenders. Syria's central bank has recently organized workshops with banks from the U.S., Turkey, Jordan and Australia to discuss due diligence in reviewing transactions, he added.

GROWTH PROSPECTS

The World Bank in July estimated that Syria's gross domestic product would grow by a modest 1% in 2025 after contracting 1.5% in 2024, amid security challenges, liquidity constraints and suspensions of foreign assistance.

"I don't think that reflected the reality of the Syrian economy, because we have, like, 1.5 million refugees coming back. Just calculate what's at the minimum, what such return of refugees could add to GDP," Husrieh said.

He acknowledged that Syria lacks reliable economic data, but said inflation was down, and the strengthening of the Syrian pound's exchange rate was a proxy for the economy's performance.

NEW CURRENCY, EIGHT DENOMINATIONS

Husrieh said that Syria is preparing to launch a new currency in eight note denominations and confirmed plans to remove two zeroes from them in a bid to restore confidence in the battered pound, which was quoted at 11,057 to the dollar on LSEG Workspace on Thursday.

He said Syria would end seven decades of central bank financing of its government budget deficits, and restore confidence in public finances and central bank management.

"The new currency will be a signal and symbol for this financial liberation," Husrieh said.

He also welcomed the new agreement with Visa announced on Thursday to develop a digital payments ecosystem that will prompt the company's return to Syria.

"We are glad that we are working with Visa and Mastercard," Husrieh said, adding that country officials have further meetings with Visa on Thursday regarding the partnership.

"We are working to have a fully finished payment system in which we have global partners because ... our vision is to have Syria as hub - a financial hub - for the Levant."

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(Reporting by Susan Heavey and David Lawder in Washington and Dan Burns in New York; Editing by Matthew Lewis)