Lebanese Forex Market:
Demand for the Dollar in the Lebanese Forex Market remained unchanged over the past week as the value of the dollar steadied at $/LP 1,513.75-1,514.25 with a mid-price of $/LP 1,514.
Foreign assets (excluding gold) of the Central Bank decreased by 1.56% by the end of March, to $36.59B. The dollarization ratio of private sector deposits fell from 64.88% in December 2015 to 64.69% in February 2016.
By Friday 22nd of April, 2016, 12:30 pm Beirut time, the euro appreciated against the dollar-pegged LP as the exchange rate added a slight 0.09%, over the last week, from €/LP 1,698.20 to €/LP 1,699.71. As for the Nominal effective Exchange Rate (NEER), it lost a weekly 0.07% to 166.54 points, the equivalent of a 1.10% year-to-date decrease.
International Forex Market:
The euro appreciated against the dollar as the exchange rate went up from last week’s €/$ 1.1265 to €/$ 1.1275 this week. The euro inched up as some investors interpreted European Central Bank President, Mario Draghi’s speech to be optimistic regarding inflation and the European economy.
Commodities:
The weaker dollar led gold prices to edge up from $1,230/ounce last week to $1,246.16/ounce at 12:00 Beirut time this Friday.