The currency has been devaluing significantly, especially since the start of the Syrian Civil War, and continued to plunge further. On 29 November 2019, following protests in Lebanese, the black market rate was 765 SYP = US$1, a decrease of 30% since the turmoil started in Lebanon a month earlier, as the protests led Lebanese banks to impose tight controls on hard currency withdrawals and transfers abroad, making it hard for Syrians to access funds held by them in those banks.[14][2] The black-market rate fell to 950 SYP on 2 December 2019, another 25% decrease,[15] while the official rate was 434 SYP = US$1.