Syrian pound
The Syrian pound or lira (Arabic: الليرة السورية, romanized: al-līra as-sūriyya; abbreviation: LS or SP in Latin, ل.س in Arabic, historically also £S, and £Syr; ISO code: SYP) is the currency of Syria. It is issued by the Central Bank of Syria. The pound is nominally divided into 100 piastres (قرش qirsh, plural قروش qurūsh in Arabic, abbreviated to p.), although piastre coins are no longer issued. All banknotes and coins below 50 pounds are practically worthless by Dec 2022.
| الليرة السورية (Arabic) | |
|---|---|
100 Syrian Pound banknote | |
| ISO 4217 | |
| Code | SYP (numeric: 760) |
| Subunit | 0.01 |
| Symbol | None official. The abbreviations LS, SP, or ل.س are used. |
| Denominations | |
| Subunit | |
| 1⁄100 | piastre (p) |
| Banknotes | LS 50, LS 100, LS 200, LS 500, LS 1,000, LS 2,000, LS 5,000 |
| Coins | LS 5, LS 10, LS 25, LS 50 |
| Demographics | |
| User(s) | Syria |
| Issuance | |
| Central bank | Central Bank of Syria |
| Website | cb |
| Valuation | |
| Inflation | 28.1% |
| Source | The World Factbook, 2017 est. |
| Value | US$1 = LS 9,900 (official) US$1 = LS 12,100 (parallel market) As of 21 July 2023 |
Before 1947, the Arabic inscription of the word "qirsh" was spelled with the initial Arabic letter غ, after which the word began with ق. Until 1958, banknotes were issued with Arabic on the obverse and French on the reverse. Since 1958, English has been used on the reverses, hence the three different names for this currency. Coins used both Arabic and French until independence, then only Arabic.