Lebanese Forex Market
The Lebanese Pound (LP) 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 stood at $37.97B by end-April 2019.
The dollarization ratio of private sector deposits remained stable at 70.62% in Dec. 2018 to 70.60% in March 2019.
The Euro depreciated against the dollar-pegged LP, ending the week at €/LBP 1,681.94, compared to last week’s €/LBP 1,693.37. In its turn, the Nominal Effective Exchange Rate (NEER) of the LBP rose by 0.31% to 119.83 points by the week ending May 17.
International Forex Market
In the week ending May 17 2019, the U.S. posted strong data, sending the euro lower. Unemployment claims dropped to 212,000, down from 228,000, its lowest level in four weeks. As such, the Euro depreciated by a 0.67% against the US Dollar, as the currency pair went from last week’s €/USD 1.1233 to €/USD 1.1157.
Commodities
Accordingly, gold prices fell over the week to $1281.63 by May 17, compared to last week’s $1,293.5/ounce.