Lebanese Forex Market
Demand for the dollar remained stable on the Lebanese Forex market with the value of the Lebanese Pound trading within the range of $/LP 1,514 – 1,514. 5 with a mid-price of $/LP 1,514.25 since last week.
Foreign assets (excluding gold) at the Central Bank reached $39.76B in mid-April 2017 compared to $36.31B in the same period last year.
The dollarization ratio of private sector deposits rose from 64.7% in February 2016 to 65.9% in February 2017.
By Friday April 28th, 2017, the euro appreciated against the dollar-pegged LP going from €/LBP 1,616.04 on April 21st to €/LBP 1,646.58, this week.
As for the Nominal Effective Exchange Rate (NEER) of the LBP, it declined by 0.92% over the past week to stand at 115.57 points.
International Forex Market:
The euro/dollar rose by 1.89% to €/$ 1.0923 over the mentioned period. The euro strengthened following the wave of relief in the market following Emmanuel Macron’s victory against anti-euro nationalist Marine Le Pen in round 1 of France’s presidential elections on Apr.23rd. Investors’ agitation was further eased this week following the ECB’s (Draghi) statement reassuring markets of an increasingly solid Eurozone recovery.
Commodities:
Gold prices fell from $1,283.15/ounce to $1,266.44/ounce this week, as investors sought riskier assets.