FXStreet.com: Syria switches 50 pct of foreign currency reserves to the euro

For the complete report in FXStreet.com click on this link

Syria switches 50 pct of foreign currency reserves to the euro

Syria has replaced the dollar with the euro for half of its foreign currency reserves, as part of efforts to counter possible US sanctions, Prime Minister Mohammed Naji Otri said. "The Syrian pound is sheltered from crises because of its large foreign currency reserves and because the euro has replaced the dollar in the case of about half of this money," Otri said, quoted by the state news agency SANA. At the start of 2006 the premier sent out a circular instructing all ministries and state companies to adopt the euro instead of the dollar to repay foreign debts and for import-export contracts.

Since May 2004, Syria has been under US economic sanctions banning imports of American goods apart from food and medicine