The central bank did not specify the amount of local currency that had arrived. Syria's new central bank governor Maysaa Sabreen told Reuters in January that she wanted to avoid printing Syrian pounds if possible in order to guard against fluctuations in inflation rates.

Syria’s central bank has flown in fresh banknotes from Russia to alleviate a severe shortage of cash that has left its economy struggling to function. The central bank said on Friday that Syrian pounds had arrived “from Russia to Syria via Damascus international airport” but did not confirm the quantity of currency.