The price of the dollar jumped today in Lebanon during the beginning of trading on Thursday morning, January 26, 2023, in the unofficial (black) parallel market, approaching a new record level of approximately 58,000 pounds.
The Lebanese pound continues to rapidly decline against the dollar, as it lost more than 95% of its value, without any positive indications of an improvement in the situation soon, as the traditional tools that are available to central banks such as interest, issuance of certificates of deposit, and enticing banks to employ surplus liquidity at the Bank of Lebanon are no longer available. at the Central.
Money market experts in Lebanon are calling for raising the exchange rate on a banking platform next February, if the dollar exchange rate continues to rise in the parallel market.
There are measures that the Banque du Liban must take in the event that it continues to adopt an exchange platform for trading, as it either reduces the ceilings for individuals using dollars on an exchange platform, or raises the exchange rate of the platform, which may reach 42 thousand or more.
The exchange rate of the dollar today in Lebanon
The official exchange rate for the dollar reached 1,507.5 pounds to the dollar, according to Central Bank of Lebanon data, but this rate is almost no longer applied except in a very limited range of government-sponsored funds for certain necessary purposes.
The price of the dollar today in Lebanon, the black market
The price of the Lebanese pound recorded a new, historic and unprecedented collapse. Where the price of the dollar on the black market in Lebanon ranged between 57,700 – 57,900 pounds per dollar, compared to 54,900 and 55,100 Lebanese pounds per dollar at the end of trading yesterday, Wednesday, according to the “lirarate” platform.
The exchange rate of the dollar in Lebanon today at the cashiers
The Central Bank of Lebanon announced a sharp devaluation of the lira in a statement, saying: “The Bank of Lebanon buys all Lebanese pounds and sells dollars at an exchange rate of 38 thousand pounds per dollar, and individuals and institutions, without limits in numbers, can apply from all Lebanese banks to pass these operations … and that is until Further notice”.
most severe crises
The Lebanon crisis, which the World Bank ranks among the 10 most severe global financial crises since the middle of the nineteenth century, began in October 2019, after banks stopped working for a period of 3 weeks, and then refrained from returning depositors’ money withheld since that date, which is approximately equivalent to 100. billion dollars, according to Forbes.
Since then, the lira has lost more than 95% of its value, driving millions of Lebanese into poverty with diminished basic goods and services such as electricity.
Lebanon is seeking to finalize an agreement with the International Monetary Fund after it reached a preliminary agreement at the expert level to obtain a loan, with reforms including the adoption of a new bank secrecy law, in line with international anti-corruption standards and the removal of obstacles to restructuring the banking sector, tax administration, as well as On the detection and investigation of financial crimes, and the recovery of assets.
Lebanon has not yet been able to implement the reform conditions of the International Monetary Fund to proceed with the agreement.
In parallel, last Saturday, investigators from France, Germany and Luxembourg completed their investigations in Beirut, in money laundering and embezzlement cases related to the governor of the Central Bank, Riad Salameh.
However, the French News Agency quoted a judicial source as saying that the European investigators will return to Lebanon next month to hear from the Governor of the Banque du Liban, Riad Salameh, in Beirut, as part of investigations into the movement of funds abroad that he and his brother carried out.
Salameh is undergoing a series of judicial investigations in Lebanon and abroad, linked to suspicions of money laundering and “illicit enrichment.”
It is noteworthy that the European Judicial Cooperation Unit “Eurojust” announced on March 28 that France, Germany and Luxembourg had frozen 120 million euros ($130 million) of Lebanese assets, following an investigation targeting Salameh and 4 of his close associates on charges of money laundering and “embezzlement of public funds.” In Lebanon, with a value of more than 330 million dollars, and 5 million euros ($5.4 million), respectively, between 2002 and 2021.
Salameh faces sharp criticism of his monetary policies for accumulating debts, but he has repeatedly defended himself, saying that the Central Bank “financed the state, but did not disburse the money,” and that it wanted to sacrifice it as a “scapegoat,” blaming political officials for the collapse.