The Central Bank of Syria is expected to continue to implement monetary reform and gradually gain greater autonomy. The Ministry of Finance has begun issuing Treasury bills to help to establish a local bond market. Interest rates were lowered by 50 basis points in mid-January to stimulate investment, following earlier cuts in January 2009 and August 2010. The authorities seem relatively unconcerned about the rising trend in inflation. To encourage investment, the Central Bank is likely to continue to reduce the restrictions on foreign-currency transactions-two decrees, which facilitated foreign-exchange transactions, were issued in November 2010. All of these measures will help to develop and modernise the banking sector, in which privatised banks (which can now be 60% foreign owned) are playing an increasing role.