Lebanese Forex Market
The Lebanese Pound traded within the range of $/LP 1,514-1,514.5 against the dollar with a mid-price of $/LP 1,514.25 by the week ending July 27th, at the same range as last week.
The peg continues to be supported by the Central Bank’s solid foreign assets, which reached $44.16 billion in June 2018.
The dollarization ratio of private sector deposits grew from 65.84% in December 2017 to 68.35% in May 2018.
Over the past week, the Euro depreciated against the dollar-pegged LP going from €/LBP 1,752.62 to €/LBP 1,745.38 to this week.
As for the Nominal Effective Exchange Rate (NEER) of the LBP, it recorded a 0.03% weekly drop to reach 115.59 points.
International Forex Market
The euro lost 0.41% against the dollar this past week. In fact, the US dollar gained ground against the euro despite the Federal Reserve keeping rates unchanged as announced in a statement Thursday. Although keeping rates unchanged was an expected move, the Federal Reserve adopted a strong tone when discussing the economy, mentioning a strong rise in activity and household spending.
Commodities
Gold prices retreated over the week, from $1,219.24/ounce last week to $1,211.6/ounce this week.