Damascus, Jan 3 (IANS): Amid a worsening economic situation, the Central Bank of Syria has lowered the official Syrian pound's exchange rate against the US dollar for the second time since September 2022, reflecting a loss of about 50 per cent.

According to the bank's bulletin on Monday, the official exchange rate dropped to 4,522 Syrian pounds against 1 USD from the previous 3,015, reports Xinhua news agency.

Analysts believe the central bank's move aims at controlling the transactions from abroad and keeping the exchange process within banks instead of the black market.

Monday's devaluation was the second in less than four months after the Central Bank weakened the national currency from 2,814 pounds to 3,015 pounds against the dollar in September.

The latest decision came as the Syrian currency has continued to crash in the war-torn country, plunging more Syrians into poverty.

Syria has been wracked by civil war since early 2011 when Bashar Assad's regime cracked down on pro-democracy demonstrators.

Hundreds of thousands of people have been killed and over 10 million displaced, according to estimates from the UN.

Meanwhile, the currency has been hit hard by war, corruption, Western sanctions and financial and economic collapse in neighbouring Lebanon.