we tried replacing Small Denominations in Syria, here's what happened

On February 17, 2026, the Governor of the Syrian Central Bank, Abdul Qader Hasriya, issued Decision No. 25, which stipulated the replacement of old currency denominations within the exchange periods specified in Article 3 of Decree 293 of 2025, provided that the number of exchanged notes is no fewer than 100 pieces of the same denomination.

The denominations are:

• Old 500 Syrian pounds from all issuances
• 200 pounds
• 100 pounds
• 50 pounds

Syria Report conducted a journalistic test by attempting to exchange an amount of old 200‑pound notes, but the experience was unexpected. Here is the story:

At the Bank

We headed to one of the currency‑exchange centers in a bank. When we asked someone about the location, he inquired about the purpose of our visit. When we told him we wanted to exchange old currency, he said the bank would not do it.

We left the man and continued until we entered the bank and approached an employee to ask. Before the employee could answer, another person intervened, asking about our purpose and introducing himself as the bank manager. We told him we wanted to exchange old currency. He smiled, welcomed us, and asked for our ID.

We realized the manager had not understood that the denomination we wanted to exchange was small — the 200‑pound note. When we clarified, he paused in surprise, and the negotiation phase began.

Excuses

At first, the manager said the counting machine could not process old notes. We replied that we were willing to count the amount manually since it was not large.

He then said he would not accept any torn or taped notes. We told him we were ready to sort out the torn or taped ones, which were very few, and that the notes were in good condition anyway, as they originally came from a bank.

In the end, the manager said he would not exchange the amount, without giving any reason, after forcing us to spread the notes on the table.

We calmly gathered the money and reminded the manager that the Central Bank’s decision clearly required exchanging old denominations. He repeated that the Central Bank rejects torn or taped notes. We responded that the decision did not mention anything about the physical condition of the notes, and that we would go to the Central Bank to exchange the amount and file a complaint about his refusal.

The manager repeated the same excuses, but we insisted that we would head to the Central Bank immediately. As we were leaving, he called us into his office.

The Settlement

The manager asked about the total amount. We told him it was 23 thousand pounds. He took out the equivalent amount in new currency from his pocket and handed it to us. When we tried to give him the old notes, he refused and said, “I don’t want them, keep them.”

We took the new money, left the bundle of old notes on his desk, and walked out. The same employee who had directed us earlier asked whether we had succeeded. We showed him the new money and left him astonished.

The exchange process was not official, but it was successful. It seemed the manager was fasting and did not want to bother himself or his staff with the process.

The surprise came later: after we walked away, we realized the manager had actually given us double the amount we had. But the bank was far away, so returning the difference was postponed until after the holiday.

During the previous regime, when Assad’s government decided to convert subsidies into cash and required opening bank accounts, the condition for opening an account was depositing 25,000 pounds. We tried at the time to use small denominations at a branch of the Commercial Bank, but both the employees and the manager refused. When we asked why — since the currency was legally valid according to the Central Bank — we were met with rejection without explanation, and complaints at the time received no response.

Syria news report