The Euro Down Euro Zone Inflation’s remains below Target

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 1,719.15 compared to €/LBP. 1,727.73 last week.

In turn, the Nominal Effective Exchange Rate (NEER) of the LBP increased marginally  by 0.25 % over the week, to 118.14 points on Jan.04, 2019.

International Forex Market

The Euro depreciated against the dollar this week. The currency pair went from last week’s 1.1461€/USD  to 1.1404 €/USD. In fact, the US dollar recovered somewhat after the Commerce Ministry confirmed in a statement on Friday that the U.S. and China would begin another round of trade talks next week. Meanwhile, inflation in the euro zone stood at 1.6% in Dec.2018 compared to 1.9% in Nov.2018 as it remains below the target rate of 2%.

Commodities

Gold prices rose over the week, going from $1,275.13/ounce last week, to $1,293.61/ounce by the week ending Jan.04 2019. In fact, worries about the global economy slowdown continued to attract the safe-haven’s demand

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