Lebanese Forex Market
The Lebanese Pound (LP) 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 $39.27B by the end of January 2019.
The dollarization ratio of private sector deposits rose from 68.72% in December 2017 to 70.62% in December 2018.
Over the week, the Euro depreciated against the dollar-pegged LP, ending the week at €/LBP 1,706.43 compared to last week’s €/LBP 1,729.71
In turn, the Nominal Effective Exchange Rate (NEER) of the LBP added 0.55% over the week to 117.53 points on the week ending February 08th 2019.
International Forex Market
The European Commission this week cut its forecasts for economic growth in the Euro Area from 1.9% to 1.3% in 2018, as data released on Germany’s industrial output fell by 0.4% in December 2018 marking the 4th consecutive slump. It’s worthy to also note that market expectations were set at a 0.7% increase in output.
Hence, the currency pair went from last week’s €/USD 1.1474 to €/USD 1.1320.
Commodities
Gold prices retreated over the week, going from $1,318.39/ounce last week to $1,312.86/ounce in the week ending February 08th 2019.