VOL. XLV

No 39

30-September-2002

SYRIA

Syrian EconomyMinister Blames Slide In Value Of Currency On RegionalFactors

The Syrian Minister of Economy and Foreign Trade, Ghassan al-Rifa'i, has said thatthe sudden depreciation of over 10% in the value of the Syrian Pound againstthe US Dollar in the week ending on 20 September was caused by the threat of apossible US attack on Iraq rather than by domestic economicfundamentals in Syria. Lebanese currency dealers havereported that some Syrians have taken...