Business Budget 2027 in Syria: 3 Scenarios and a Monthly SYP Template

A business budget for 2027 in Syria works best as three scenarios, planned month by month in new Syrian pounds, with your dollar costs converted at a planning rate you write down. Prices, the exchange rate and supplier costs can all move within the year, so a single annual figure will be out of date by spring.

Four facts shape the budget, as of November 2026:

• The unit changed. Decree No. 293 of 2025, dated 24 December 2025, made 100 old pounds equal to 1 new pound, with denominations from 1 to 1,000 new pounds and 100 piastres to the pound. If your baseline is 2025 data, divide it by 100 once before you start.
• Old notes are finished. In a statement dated 2 August 2026, the Central Bank of Syria (CBS) said the exchange period ended on 30 July 2026 and the old currency lost its legal tender status, so it can no longer settle any obligation or payment.
• The official rate is your reference, not your forecast. The CBS official bulletin of 29 October 2026 put the US dollar at 122.00 new pounds (middle), 121.50 buy and 122.50 sell, the same in every bulletin since 17 September.
• Domestic prices stay in pounds. Legislative Decree No. 5 of 2024 bars pricing and payment in foreign currency in domestic dealings, so the revenue side of your budget is in new pounds even when your costs are in dollars. Section four covers its scope and exemptions.

That mix, sales in pounds and imported costs in dollars, is the core risk to plan for. This guide gives you three scenarios, a 12-column monthly template, supplier price-review clauses, a cash-buffer rule and a monthly budget-versus-actual routine. If you are still closing 2026, finish that first with our year-end closing checklist for Syria: its closing balances are your budget's opening position.

Build the three scenarios from one assumption sheet, so that changing a single cell, such as the planning rate, updates the whole year. The base case is what you expect; the low case is a stress test you must survive; the high case shows how much extra stock, staff and cash growth would need.

Worked example: a household-goods distributor in Aleppo sells 1,000 orders a month at an average of 2,400 new pounds, and the imported goods behind each order cost USD 12. These assumptions are illustrative, not forecasts, so copy the layout and put in your own numbers:

• Assumption | Low | Base | High
• Orders per month | 900 | 1,000 | 1,150
• Average price, new SYP | 2,640 | 2,400 | 2,400
• Planning rate, SYP per USD | 140 | 122 | 122
• Imported cost per order, USD | 12 | 12 | 12
• Operating costs per month, new SYP | 650,000 | 620,000 | 640,000

Monthly result, in new pounds:

• Revenue | 2,376,000 | 2,400,000 | 2,760,000
• Imported cost | 1,512,000 | 1,464,000 | 1,683,600
• Gross margin | 864,000 | 936,000 | 1,076,400
• Operating result | 214,000 | 316,000 | 436,400

The low case assumes you raise prices by 10% when the rate reaches 140. Without that repricing, revenue falls to 2,160,000 and the month ends with a loss of 2,000 pounds. That is the number to show your partners.

Two more figures come from the same sheet:

• Break-even rate: in the base case, profit reaches zero at about 148 pounds per dollar (1,780,000 ÷ 12,000) if your prices do not move.
• Pass-through lag: the weeks between a rate move and your new price list reaching customers. Every week of lag is margin lost.

Finally, write down the signal that moves you from base to low, such as the official rate staying 5% above your planning rate in two consecutive bulletins, so the switch is a rule, not a debate.

A monthly plan turns the base case into twelve rows, one for each month of 2027, so that seasons, one-off payments and price changes land in the month they actually happen. Copy these columns into a spreadsheet:

• A. Month
• B. Orders or units, from the scenario
• C. Average selling price, new SYP
• D. Revenue, new SYP = B × C
• E. Imported purchases, USD
• F. Planning rate, SYP per USD, linked to the assumption sheet
• G. Imported purchases, new SYP = E × F
• H. Local purchases, new SYP
• I. Wages and social insurance, new SYP
• J. Rent, electricity and generator fuel, new SYP
• K. Transport and other costs, new SYP
• L. Operating result, new SYP = D − G − H − I − J − K

Example row, January 2027, base case: B = 1,000; C = 2,400; D = 2,400,000; E = 12,000; F = 122; G = 1,464,000; H = 0; I = 300,000; J = 210,000; K = 110,000; L = 316,000.

Then adjust each month instead of dividing an annual figure by twelve:

• Seasons: move volume into the months your trade peaks, such as Ramadan, the two Eids and the school season, and out of the quiet months.
• Price steps: if you plan a new price list, change column C from that month, not from January.
• One-off costs: annual licence and membership renewals, annual rent paid in advance, a generator overhaul, the tax payment.
• Wages: put any planned raise in the month it applies.
• Timing: add a cash row under the plan, because a sale on 60-day credit is revenue in March but cash in May.

Leave two columns at the end for actual and variance; from February you fill them every month, as section five explains.

Finally, label every amount column with its currency. A sheet that says "pounds" without "new" will confuse someone in 2027, because older contracts and ledgers are still in old pounds.

Price and invoice domestic customers in new Syrian pounds. Legislative Decree No. 5 of 2024, dated 20 January 2024 and listed as in force on the CBS legislation register as of November 2026, bans using any currency other than the Syrian pound for payments, commercial dealings or cash settlements, and bans displaying goods and services in another currency without Cabinet approval. Penalties include prison terms that rise with the amount involved, plus a fine of twice its value.

Its exemptions are narrower than many assume:

• Article 5: the ban does not apply to non-resident foreigners or foreign investors in Syria.
• Article 6: foreign trade is not an offence. CBS Decision No. 112 of 28 January 2024 defines it as import and export operations, plus export-linked advance payments from a non-resident foreign buyer, under conditions.
• The same decision says a sale inside Syria paid in foreign currency and not linked to export is not foreign trade, even to a tourist, an international organisation or an expatriate, and places the offence on the Syrian seller.
• Article 7: holding foreign currency is not an offence.

So keep dollars for imports and export deals, and never put a dollar price on a domestic price list or invoice. Ask your lawyer before relying on any exemption.

Protect your margin through how fast you reprice in pounds, and through supplier terms. Ask suppliers for:

• A validity period on every quote, such as 15 days.
• Price changes only after written notice, such as 7 days, and at most once a month.
• A documented trigger, such as a published official rate or fuel price, with a cap per review.
• Confirmed orders keeping their original price.
• Every amount written as "new Syrian pounds".

Mirror these terms in your own customer quotes, and have your lawyer review any clause that links a pound price to the dollar. In Odoo, record each supplier's agreed price under Purchase ‣ Configuration ‣ Vendor Pricelists, and keep one sales pricelist in new pounds.

Cash, not profit, decides whether a stress month hurts. Set a buffer rule, then compare budget with actual every month.

A simple buffer rule, by currency:

• New pounds: fixed costs for a set number of months. In the example, two months of the base case's 620,000 is 1,240,000 new pounds.
• Dollars: the next confirmed import payments, such as USD 12,000 for next month's goods.
• A trigger: if the buffer stays below target for two weeks, freeze non-essential spending and switch to the low scenario.

Agree the number of months with your accountant, and write it down.

The monthly routine, by the 10th of the following month:

• Reconcile every bank account and cash box, each in its own currency.
• Enter the CBS month-end rate, from the same bulletin and column every month.
• Compare actual with budget for each line, in pounds and in percent.
• Isolate the rate effect on imported costs: dollar purchases times the gap between the actual and planning rates. USD 12,000 bought at 125 instead of 122 costs 36,000 new pounds more.
• Decide: reprice, cut or switch scenario, then re-forecast the remaining months.

In Odoo Enterprise's Accounting app, open Accounting ‣ Reporting ‣ Profit and Loss and click Budget: a budget column appears beside the balance, with a % column showing progress, as Odoo's budget documentation describes. For branches or projects, turn on Budget Management in the settings to use analytic budgets, which can be split into monthly budgets; their Committed column adds confirmed, unbilled purchase orders to Achieved. Odoo keeps your ledger balances in your company's main currency, so if your books are in dollars, convert pound lines at your planning rate before you enter them. Our multi-currency accounting guide for Syria covers choosing it.

Your next step: copy the template, fill in the base case, then tell us about your setup. METCH, an official Odoo partner serving Syria, can set up budgets and dual-currency books in Odoo and train your team in Arabic.