Lebanese Forex Market
The Lebanese Pound steadied this week 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 $40.88B by the end of November 2018.
The dollarization ratio of private sector deposits rose from 68.72% in December 2017 to 69.51% in October 2018.
Over the week, the Euro depreciated against the dollar-pegged LP, ending the week at €/LBP 1,697.55 compared to last week’s €/LBP 1,713.42.
In turn, the Nominal Effective Exchange Rate (NEER) of the LBP climbed by 0.44% during the week, to 118.75 points by December 14th 2018.
International Forex Market
The Euro depreciated against the dollar this week. The currency pair went from last week’s €/USD 1.1366 to €/USD 1.1261, on the back of the European Central Bank (ECB) announcing its decision to end the $3 trillion quantitative easing program it had started in 2015. As a result, ECB president Draghi also announced the Euro area’s growth forecast slipped to 1.9% instead of September’s 2%. Meanwhile, some signs of reconciliation regarding the China-USA trade tensions strengthened the dollar over the week.
Commodities
Gold prices declined over the week, going from $1,239.98 per ounce last week, to $1,238.11/ounce by the week ending Dec. 14th 2018.