SAWT BEIRUT INTERNATIONAL

| 28 March 2024, Thursday |

Black-market dollar drops once more

On Tuesday, the black-market dollar decreased somewhat, ranging between 21,250 and 21,150 Lebanese pounds for purchase and sale.

The draft budget set the average exchange rate of the Lebanese pound during the last quarter of 2021 at about 20 thousand pounds and 10,083 during the whole year. The official exchange rate, which is applied in government transactions, including customs tariffs, is still about 1,500 pounds to the dollar.

The Lebanese pound has lost more than 93 percent of its value since summer 2019, when it began breaking away from the exchange rate of 1,500 LBP to the dollar, which has been pegged since 1997.

A month ago, Lebanon’s Central Bank had set a new rate of 8,000 Lebanese pounds to the US dollar for withdrawals from bank deposits denominated in dollars but which can now only be accessed in the local currency.

The World Bank described Lebanon’s crisis as one of the worst recessions in world history. Most of the depositors’ funds in US dollars have been frozen since October 2019, and during this period the national currency lost more than 90% of its value.

    Source:
  • Sawt Beirut International