Lebanese Forex Market
Demand for the dollar on the Lebanese forex market steadied over the past week, where the value of the Lebanese pound against the dollar remained at a mid-price of $/LP 1,514 within the range $/LP 1,513.75-1,514.25 on Friday.
Foreign assets (excluding gold) at the Central Bank increased 9.36% since the beginning of the year to $40.56B by October 2016, boosted by the recent swap executed by BDL with the MoF and Lebanese banks. The dollarization ratio of private sector deposits increased from 64.88% in December 2015 to 64.98% in September 2016.
By Friday the 25th of November 2016, the euro slightly fell behind the dollar-pegged LP over the last week, going from €/LBP 1,598.25 to €/LBP 1,597.80. As for the Nominal Effective Exchange Rate (NEER) of the LBP, it declined by 0.47% to reach 117.73 points.
International Forex Market:
As expectations for multiple US rate hikes next year strengthened, the US dollar was positively affected, which was illustrated by the Euro/Dollar exchange rate that fell from €/$ 1.0602, last week, to €/$1.0599 this week.
Commodities:
Over the past week, in line with a stronger dollar, gold prices decreased from $1,212.86/ounce to $1,188.66/ounce this week.