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Report: Syrian bank fiddling currency to evade EU sanctions
By EUobserver
Syria is using currency manipulation to evade EU and UN sanctions, with the National Bank of Syria, a blacklisted entity, taking in $60m (€52m) in 2020 of the real value of aid money meant to soothe poverty in government-held areas, according to research by US think-tanks. UN contractors procured goods at the official SYP2,500/$ exchange-rate, but those dollars were worth SYP3,500/$ on the black market, in the complex scam.