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 $39.67B by the end of December 2018.
The dollarization ratio of private sector deposits rose from 68.72% in December 2017 to 69.89% in December 2018.
Over the week, the Euro appreciated against the dollar-pegged LP, ending the week at €/LBP 1,738.30 compared to €/LBP 1,719.15last week.
In turn, the Nominal Effective Exchange Rate (NEER) of the LBP fell by 0.64 % over the week, to 117.38 points on January 11, 2019.
International Forex Market
The Dollar weakened this week on cautious signals from the Federal Reserve about further rate hikes. As such, the Euro rose against the dollar this week, going from €/USD 1.1404 to €/USD 1.1531
Commodities
Gold prices slightly dropped over the week, going from $1,293.61/ounce last week, to $ 1,292.67/ounce by the week ending January 11 2019.