The Lebanese Pound traded within the range of $/LP 1,514-1,514.5 against the dollar with a mid-price of $/LP 1,514.25 by the week ending Aug. 31th, at the same range as last week.
The peg continues to be supported by the Central Bank’s solid foreign assets, which reached $44.42 billion in July 2018.
The dollarization ratio of private sector deposits slightly slid from 68.72% in December 2017 to 68.42% in June 2018.
Over the past week, the Euro appreciated against the dollar-pegged LP going from €/LBP 1,718.25 to €/LBP 1,759.55this week.
As for the Nominal Effective Exchange Rate (NEER) of the LBP, it recorded a 0.28% weekly decline to reach 119.25 points.
International Forex Market
The euro gained 2.40% against the dollar over the past 2 weeks to reach 1.1672 by the end of this week as markets feared the dollar could lose its safe-haven appeal due to raging global trade wars.
However, the euro could still face some sizeable pressure in light of the Turkish crisis and the return of the US EU trade wars to the headlines.
Commodities
Gold prices rise by 2.20% over the week, from $1,176.9/ounce last week to $1,202.81/ounce this week.