Lebanese Forex Market
Demand for the dollar on the Lebanese forex market remained stable over the past week, at a mid-price of $/LP 1,514.25 within the range $/LP 1,514-1,514.5 on Friday.
Foreign assets (excluding gold) at the Central Bank increased 8.56% since the beginning of the year to $40.27B by November 2016, boosted by the recent swap executed by BDL with the MoF and Lebanese banks. The dollarization ratio of private sector deposits increased from 64.88% in December 2015 to 65.10% in October 2016.
By Friday the 9th of December 2016, the euro depreciated against the dollar-pegged LP over the last week, going from €/LBP 1,604.73 to €/LBP 1,601.87. As for the Nominal Effective Exchange Rate (NEER) of the LBP, it increased slightly by 0.15% to reach 118.01 points.
International Forex Market:
The euro weakened against the dollar this week, falling from €/$ 1.0645 last week, to €/$1.0626 this week, after the European Central Bank announced a slimmed down asset purchase program to begin in April 2017.
Commodities:
Over the past week, gold prices decreased from $1,176.88/ounce on Friday, to $1,170.46/ounce on Thursday the 8th of December.