Statement of Fed Chairman Weaken the Dollar

Lebanese Forex Market

The Lebanese Pound steadied within the range of $/LP 1,514 – 1,514.5 against the dollar with a mid-price of $/LP 1,514.25.

The peg continues to be supported by the Central Bank’s solid foreign assets, which reached $43.12 billion (B) in October 2018.

The dollarization ratio of private sector deposits rose from 68.72% in December 2017 to 69.14% by September 2018.

Over the past two weeks, the Euro slightly rose against the dollar-pegged LP, as it climbed from last week’s €/LBP 1,712.94 to €/LBP 1,714.33 this week.

In turn, the Nominal Effective Exchange Rate (NEER) of the LBP recorded a 0.40% drop, during the past two weeks, to stand at 118.04 points by November 30 2018.

International Forex Market

The Dollar weakened against the Euro in the past two weeks, as the Fed Chairman, Jerome Powell, stated that the Federal funds rate was close to a neutral level and that a wait-and-see approach will follow in 2019. It is expected that 2019 will witness one or two rate hikes when three was the consensus previously. As a result, the euro rose against the dollar as reflected in the 0.08% downtick in the euro-dollar rate to 1.1372 this week.

Commodities

Gold prices fell over the two weeks from $1,223.15 per ounce last week to $1,221.28/ounce this week.

 

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