Syrian authorities have been considering since the beginning of the year the possibility of starting to print currency in Germany and the UAE instead of Russia, Reuters reported citing sources.
The new government wants to remove the image of the overthrown Syrian President Bashar al-Assad from the Syrian pound.
In February, the European Union eased sanctions against Syria's financial market, specifically allowing the printing of the republic's currency. Now, the country's authorities are negotiating about currency printing with the UAE-based company Oumolat, which the head of the central bank and the Syrian finance minister visited in early May, two sources in the financial market told Reuters. Oumolat did not respond to a request for comment.
In Germany, state-owned company Bundesdruckerei and private company Giesecke+Devrient have shown interest in a possible deal, according to a Syrian source and a European official. Bundesdruckerei denies that it is negotiating with Syria, while Giesecke+Devrient declined to comment.
As Reuters writes, being "one of Assad's key supporters," Russia printed the Syrian pound for more than a decade after the previous contract was terminated by a European company due to EU sanctions.
