Sign up to create alerts for Instruments,
Economic Events and content by followed authors
Free Sign Up Already have an account? Sign In
RaFi BhUiYaN
Nov 21, 2022 5:04PM ET
Hi
0
0
Quotes
All Instrument Types
- All Instrument Types
- Indices
- Equities
- ETFs
- Funds
- Commodities
- Currencies
- Crypto
- Bonds
- Certificates
Please try another search
🚨 Our Pro Data Reveals the True Winner of Earnings Season Access Data
Lebanon central bank to use forex rate of 15,000 pounds per dollar as of Feb 1
© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: A money exchange vendor displays Lebanese pound banknotes at his shop in Beirut, Lebanon September 28, 2022. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir
BEIRUT (Reuters) -Lebanon's central bank will adopt an exchange rate of 15,000 Lebanese pounds per U.S. dollar as of Feb. 1 as part of a process to unify the country's multiple exchange-rate system, Lebanese central bank governor Riad Salameh said on Monday.
The central bank's official rate has been set at 1,507 pounds per U.S. dollar for 25 years but that valuation has become all but defunct since a 2019 financial implosion that has caused the currency to lose more than 95% of its value.
The parallel market exchange rate was hovering at around 39,000 pounds per dollar on Monday.
"We have now entered the process of unifying exchange rates ... the central bank will deal with markets using the price of 15,000 starting form the beginning of February 2023," Salameh said in an interview with U.S.-based Al-Hurra TV.
In addition to official and parallel market exchange rates, authorities have created several others during the crisis, including unfavourable rates applied to withdrawals of Lebanese pounds from hard currency deposits in the frozen banking system.
Salameh said the rate for withdrawals governed by central bank circulars would be brought up to 15,000 pounds as of Feb. 1.
The central bank would then have just two rates, Salameh said: 15,000, and a rate set by the central bank's Sayrafa exchange platform, which sat at around 30,000 pounds per dollar on Monday.
Lebanon's crisis was caused by decades of profligate spending by a state riddled with corruption and waste, together with unsustainable financial policies.
Depositors have paid a big price, and have been mostly unable to access dollar savings or forced to make withdrawals in pounds at unfavourable rates.
Progress has been slow, meanwhile, on reforms that would help finalize a deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to unlock funding to help ease the crisis.
Related Articles
Comments (1)
Add Chart to Comment
Confirm Block
Are you sure you want to block %USER_NAME%?
By doing so, you and %USER_NAME% will not be able to see any of each other's Investing.com's posts.
%USER_NAME% was successfully added to your Block List
Since you’ve just unblocked this person, you must wait 48 hours before renewing the block.
Report this comment
I feel that this comment is:
Comment flagged
Thank You!
Your report has been sent to our moderators for review
Add a Comment
We encourage you to use comments to engage with other users, share your perspective and ask questions of authors and each other. However, in order to maintain the high level of discourse we’ve all come to value and expect, please keep the following criteria in mind:
Enrich the conversation, don’t trash it.
Stay focused and on track. Only post material that’s relevant to the topic being discussed.
Be respectful. Even negative opinions can be framed positively and diplomatically. Avoid profanity, slander or personal attacks directed at an author or another user. Racism, sexism and other forms of discrimination will not be tolerated.
Perpetrators of spam or abuse will be deleted from the site and prohibited from future registration at Investing.com’s discretion.