Lebanese Forex Market
Demand for the local currency on the Lebanese forex market steadied, with the value of the Lebanese Pound trading within the range of $/LP 1,514 – 1,514. 5 with a mid-price of $/LP 1,514.25 since last week while BDL’s foreign assets stood at $41.9B by November 2017.
The dollarization ratio of private sector deposits rose from 65.82% in December 2016 to 67.27% by the end of October 2017.
Over the past two weeks, the Euro appreciated against the dollar-pegged LP going from €/LBP 1,786.09 on December 22 to €/LBP 1,820.45, on January 5, 2018.
As for the Nominal Effective Exchange Rate (NEER) of the LBP, it dropped by 1.28% over the past 2 weeks, to close the week at 110.50 points.
International Forex Market
The dollar weakened after the Federal Reserve left its rate outlook for the coming year unchanged. As such, the Euro-Dollar exchange rate rose from 1.1848 two weeks ago to 1.2076 this week.
Commodities
Gold prices rose from $1,268.46/ounce last week to $1,316.67/ounce this week.