Muna Ali, Baladi News
Activists on the social networking sites launched on Sunday a new hashtag titled "Assad is for 2,000 SYP" in response to the issuance of a 2,000-pound banknote holding the image of the head of the Syrian regime, Bashar Al-Assad.
The governor of the Central Bank of Syria announced on Sunday that a new 2000-pound note has entered into circulation and it will be available today in Damascus and a number of other Syrian provinces.
The Syrian pound has lost 500% of its value since the outbreak of the Syrian revolution in 2011 and the 1000-pound note was the highest denomination of Syrian banknote holding the image of the former head of the Syrian regime, Hafez al-Assad, as it equaled before the revolution around 20$, while today it equals 2$.
It seems that Bashar al-Assad wanted to engrave his name in the black history of the Syrian stock market so he was keen on putting his image on the new note of currency, as his stock market value has reached twice the value of his father to reach 4$!.
Economic analysts said that the new notes were coined in Russia following the rejection of the European countries to coin a new note for Assad due to the UN and European sanctions imposed on its regime.
The Syrian activist, Usama Shamashan, expressed his opinion sarcastically by saying: " Although the issuance of the new 2000-pound note is a bad economic indicator in terms of currency denomination and purchasing power, but the dictator found in it a new opportunity to tell his people that he is still in power.
Since the spread of the rumor of the new note in 2013, activists have been making fun of Assad's regime as it started losing control over the country's economy by putting the image of Putin or Khamenei in place of his father on the 1,000-pound note in expression of the two countries' control of Assad's political and economic decision.