Lebanese Forex Market
Demand for the Lebanese Pound steadied during the period extending from 15/09/2017 to 22/09/2017 on the Lebanese forex market with the value of the Lebanese Pound trading within the range of $/LP 1,513.75-1,514.25 with a mid-price of $/LP 1,514.
Foreign assets (excluding gold) at the Central Bank reached $42.87B in August 2017 compared to $40.71B in December 2016.
The dollarization ratio of private sector deposits rose from 65.82% in December 2016 to 66.88% by the end of July 2017.
By Friday September 22nd, the euro appreciated against the dollar-pegged LP going from €/LBP 1,798.60 on the 15th of Sept. to €/LBP 1,807.49, this week.
As for the Nominal Effective Exchange Rate (NEER) of the LBP, it rose by 0.18% over the past week to stand at 110.72 points.
International Forex Market:
The Euro strengthened against the dollar this week in the run up to the German Elections scheduled on Sunday Sept. 24th. The market expectations that Merkel will win is associated with preserving the stability of the country and a status quo in Europe. In parallel, the dollar slipped following the FOMC’s meeting which kept interest rates unchanged. As such, the Euro/Dollar rate stood at 1.1990 dollar this week, compared to 1.1931 dollar last week.
Commodities:
Gold prices fell from $1,319.22/ounce to $1,294.91/ounce, this week.