Meetings are intensifying at the Banque du Liban with those concerned in banks and financial institutions in preparation for the process of completely stopping the “Lollar” rate on point-of-sale devices and e-commerce platforms and limiting them to cash withdrawals in accordance with Circular 151, and in parallel, preparations are underway to accept all cards issued by local banks in US dollars on any point-of-sale device in Lebanon. .
According to Banque du Liban’s sources, this step aims to encourage the use of fresh dollar banknote by merchants, in a way that contributes positively to the economy, knowing that it will be stressed not to increase commissions for payment cards in US dollars, provided that they remain within international standards.
Indicating that the lollar cards will continue to work as usual at the ATM machines, that is, for cash withdrawals at a price of 8,000 pounds per dollar, while the acceptance of the lollar cards will only stop at the sales centers, provided that the work is resumed by accepting the fresh dollar cards at all points of sale.
The same sources confirmed that “the trend towards re-encouraging and facilitating the use of “Fresh” dollar payment cards on POS points of sale in Lebanon as a first stage, and payment cards in Lebanese currency in a second stage soon.”