Amna Assem

Mohammed Safwat Raslan has been appointed governor of the Central Bank of Syria, succeeding Abdul Qader al-Hasriya, according to the official Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) on Friday.

This decision comes as Syria seeks to attract foreign investment and partnerships to support its damaged economy and crumbling infrastructure, which have suffered due to years of political tensions since the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime at the end of 2014 and the lifting of US sanctions imposed on it under the “Caesar Act” last year.

In remarks carried by SANA on Saturday, a day after his appointment, Ruslan said that work would be done to rebuild monetary and financial stability gradually and sustainably, away from temporary solutions or improvised measures.

What do we know about Ruslan?

(According to SANA + his LinkedIn account)

- Born in 1981, in Aleppo Governorate, Syria.

- He obtained a Bachelor’s degree, Faculty of Economics, Department of Accounting, from the University of Aleppo in 2002.

- He has over 20 years of experience in credit risk management, governance and digital transformation.

- He obtained a diploma in strategic management from Lazarski University – Warsaw in 2011.

- He served as Director General of the Syrian Development Fund - which was established to raise funds for reconstruction and development projects - from August 2025 until May 2026.

- Worked as a Senior Consultant – Credit Management for EY, a London-based company specializing in providing integrated solutions in consulting, financial, legal and technology services, and practiced his work in Germany from January 2023 to April 2025.

- Worked as a banking expert at TARGOBANK from October 2017 to April 2019, and at Deutsche Bank between April and December 2016.

(Prepared by: Omnia Assem, Edited by: Shaimaa Hefzy, Contact: zawya.arabic@lseg.com )

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