German Economy growth rate dragged the Euro lower this week

Lebanese Forex Market

The Lebanese Pound steadied this week 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 $39.67B by the end of December 2018.

The dollarization ratio of private sector deposits rose from 68.72% in December 2017 to 69.89% in December 2018.

Over the week, the Euro depreciated against the dollar-pegged LP, ending the week at €/LBP 1,713.38 compared to 1,738.30 €/LBP last week.

In turn, the Nominal Effective Exchange Rate (NEER) of the LBP rose by 0.34 % over the week, to 117.78 points on January 18, 2019.

International Forex Market

The Euro depreciated against the greenback this week. The currency pair went from last week’s €/USD 1.1531 to 1.1366 €/USD. In fact the U.S. dollar rose against a euro dragged lower by 1.43% after data showed that Germany barely escaped a recession in the second half of 2018 and that German Economy grew by 1.5 percent, which is down from 2.2 percent in 2017 and considered as the weakest rate of expansion in five years. In addition to that, the European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi warned last Tuesday that the euro zone economy was weaker than anticipated.

Commodities

Gold prices slightly dropped over the week, going from $ 1,292.67/ounce last week to

 $ 1291/ounce by the week ending January 18 2019.

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