Fed’s Minutes Weakens the Dollar this Week

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 $39.26B in April 2017 compared to $40.71B in December 2016.

The dollarization ratio of private sector deposits rose from 65.82% in December 2016 to 66.13% by the end of March 2017.

By Friday May 25, the euro appreciated against the dollar-pegged LP going from €/LBP 1,680.86 on May 19th to €/LBP 1,692.02, this week.

As for the Nominal Effective Exchange Rate (NEER) of the LBP, it marginally dropped by 0.09% over the past week to stand at 114.63 points.

International Forex Market:

The dollar depreciated against the euro this past week falling by 0.66% to €/$ 1.1224. The dollar slipped after the Federal Reserve minutes lowered some expectations of the central bank hiking interest rates soon.

Commodities:

Gold prices slightly fell this week from $1,272.30/ounce to $1,265.51/ounce.

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