Dollar Gains Ground Against the Euro this Week  

Lebanese Forex Market

Demand for the dollar on the Lebanese forex market stabilized at $/LP 1,514.25 within the range $/LP 1,514 – 1,514.5.

Foreign assets (excluding gold) at the Central Bank reached $40.04B at the end of January 2017 compared to $37.02B in the same period last year.

The dollarization ratio of private sector deposits rose from 64.88% in 2015 to 65.82% in 2016.

By Friday February 24th, 2017, the euro depreciated against the dollar-pegged LP going from €/LBP 1,604.45 on February 10th to €/LBP 1,596.89.

As for the Nominal Effective Exchange Rate (NEER) of the LBP, it increased by 0.74% over the past week to stand at 117.29 points.

International Forex Market:

The euro/dollar fell by 0.47% to €/$ 1.0593 over the past week. The Eurozone’s single currency has been dominated by uncertainty over the developments in the French presidential race while the dollar is still going strong on hopes of a potential interest rate hike in March.

Commodities:

Over the week, despite the stronger dollar, gold prices increased from $1,242.91/ounce on February 17th to $1,257.05 this week.

 

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