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 cut by 1 percentage point in January 2009 and by 50 basis points in August 2010, but the authorities are unlikely to cut them again in 2011 as inflation is expected to pick up. 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. 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.