Syria Names New Central Bank Chief

Syrian pounds, the country's embattled currency. (AFP)
Syrian pounds, the country's embattled currency. (AFP)
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Syria Names New Central Bank Chief

Syrian pounds, the country's embattled currency. (AFP)
Syrian pounds, the country's embattled currency. (AFP)

President Bashar al-Assad appointed a new central bank chief on Tuesday, a week after the former governor was sacked amid Syria's spiraling economic crisis.

"President Assad issues decree Number 126 for the year 2021 which appoints Mohammad Issam Hazimeh as the new governor of Syria's central bank," the presidency said in a statement.

A lawyer by training, Hazimeh has served as deputy central bank governor since 2018, according to pro-government daily Al-Watan.

It said he earlier held posts at the justice ministry, the Damascus Securities Exchange and the state-owned company responsible for online payments.

He replaces Hazem Karfoul who was dismissed in a decree last Tuesday after three years in the post.

Karfoul oversaw an accelerating economic crisis sparked by civil war and compounded by sanctions, the coronavirus pandemic and a financial crunch in neighboring Lebanon.

Al-Watan last week said he was fired because of his "shortcomings" in dealing with the crisis.

"He lacked the courage and responsibility to take technical measures to curb" the devaluation of the Syrian pound, it said, citing sources.

Hazimeh will inherit the daunting task of stabilizing the local currency which has lost more than 98 percent of its value against the dollar on the black market.

Officially valued at 1,256 to the greenback, the dollar now costs nearly 3,000 pounds on the black market.

The government last month started enforcing a series of measures to stem a further drop in the pound's value.

They include new import bans and a state crackdown on unofficial money exchangers, Al-Watan said.



Jordan Says its Stance Against Displacement of Palestinians Remains ‘Firm’

Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi speaks during a press conference in Amman, Jordan, January 26, 2025. REUTERS/Jehad Shelbak
Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi speaks during a press conference in Amman, Jordan, January 26, 2025. REUTERS/Jehad Shelbak
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Jordan Says its Stance Against Displacement of Palestinians Remains ‘Firm’

Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi speaks during a press conference in Amman, Jordan, January 26, 2025. REUTERS/Jehad Shelbak
Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi speaks during a press conference in Amman, Jordan, January 26, 2025. REUTERS/Jehad Shelbak

Amman rejected on Sunday a suggestion by US President Donald Trump that Jordan and Egypt take more Palestinians from war-ravaged Gaza.

Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi told reporters that the country's stance against any displacement of Palestinians from Gaza remains "firm and unwavering.”

Trump, who took office on Jan. 20, said on Saturday after a call with Jordan's King Abdullah: "I said to him I'd love you to take on more because I'm looking at the whole Gaza Strip right now and it's a mess, it's a real mess. I'd like him to take people.”

"I'd like Egypt to take people," Trump told reporters.

Such a drastic displacement of people would openly contradict Palestinian identity and deep connection to Gaza. Still, Trump said the part of the world that encompasses Gaza, has “had many, many conflicts” over centuries. He said resettling “could be temporary or long term.”