DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — Syria started the process of circulating new currency bills on Saturday as the crisis-hit nation seeks to stabilize the economy as it recovers from the fall of Bashar Assad’s government.

A decree issued earlier this week by President Ahmad al-Sharaa said that “old Syrian currency” will be gradually withdrawn from circulation according to a timetable set by the central bank and through designated exchange centers.

Central Bank Governor Mokhles Nazer posted on X that after months of preparations, the exchange of old Syrian pounds with new banknotes officially began Saturday morning.

The presidential decree posted on the SANA state news agency stipulates that “new Syrian currency” will be issued by removing two zeros from the nominal value of the old currency. It means every 100 Syrian pounds of the old currency will now equate to one Syrian pound.

The largest denomination of the old currency was 5,000 Syrian pound, while under the new currency it is 500 pounds.

The U.S. dollar was selling at exchange shops in Damascus on Saturday for 11,800 pounds for the old banknotes, some of which bear the images of Assad and his late father and predecessor, Hafez Assad.

At the start of Syria’s conflict in mid-March 2011, the U.S. dollar was worth 47 Syrian pounds.

Since insurgent groups led by al-Sharaa’s Hayat Tahrir al-Sham marched into Damascus in December 2024 to end the Assad family’s 54-year rule, work has been ongoing by the country’s new authorities to improve the economy battered by years of war and Western sanctions.

The U.S. and the European Union have removed most of the sanctions imposed on Syria during Assad’s rule.