Lebanese Forex Market
The Lebanese Pound steadied within the range of $/LP 1,514 – 1,514.5 against the dollar with a mid-price of $/LP 1,514.25.
The peg continues to be supported by the Central Bank’s solid foreign assets, which reached $43.52 billion (B) in September 2018.
The dollarization ratio of private sector deposits rose marginally, from 68.72% in December 2017 to 68.80% by August 2018.
Over the past week, the Euro weakened against the dollar-pegged LP, as it went from €/LBP 1,725.64 last week to €/LBP 1,712.79 this week.
As for the Nominal Effective Exchange Rate (NEER) of the LBP, it rose by a weekly 0.44% to stand at 118.96 points.
International Forex Market
The €/$ exchange rate retreated by 0.74% to €/$ 1.1362 this week, as the Euro depreciated on the back of Brussels rejecting for a first time a member’s budget proposal, namely Italy’s, given it does not meet the Eurozone criteria. In its turn, the dollar strengthened this week, after the Dept. of Commerce announced economic growth in Q3 stood at 3.5%, exceeding the market expectations of 3.3%.
Commodities
Gold prices rose over the week from $1229.05 per ounce last week to $1,236.39/ounce this week.