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 stood at $37.97B by end-April 2019.
The dollarization ratio of private sector deposits remained stable at 70.62% in Dec. 2018 to 70.60% in March 2019.
The Euro depreciated against the dollar-pegged LP, ending the week at €/LBP 1,693.37, compared to last week’s €/LBP 1,705.13. In its turn, the Nominal Effective Exchange Rate (NEER) of the LBP advanced by 0.79% to 119.46 points by the week ending May 10th.
International Forex Market
In the week ending May 10th 2019, the Euro depreciated by a 0.69% against the US Dollar, as the currency pair went from last week’s €/USD 1.1311 to €/USD 1.1233. The dollar retreated this week on the back of Trump announcing a tariff increase to 25%, up from 10%, on $200B worth of Chinese goods as he claims China is backtracking on some of its previous commitments.
Commodities
Accordingly, gold prices rose over the week to $1,293.5/ounce by May 10th, compared to last week’s $1,275.46/ounce.