Lebanese Forex Market
The Lebanese Pound (LP) steadied during the past 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 were further replenished to reach $38.51B by September 2019.
The dollarization ratio of private sector deposits increased slightly from 70.62% in Dec. 2018 to 72.01% in August 2019.
The Euro depreciated against the dollar-pegged LP from €/LBP 1,680.89 last week to €/LBP 1,663.47. As for the Nominal Effective Exchange Rate (NEER) of the LBP, it increased by 0.38% to stand at 118.50 points.
International Forex Market
The Euro/USD currency pair stood at €/USD 1.1035 by November8, down from last week’s €/USD 1.1150. Euro/dollar is suffering from uncertainty. While a trade deal may boost German exports to China – which have been under stress – it also lowers the chances of a rate cut in the US.
Commodities
In turn, international gold prices declined from last week’s $1,513.5/ounce to $1,460.4/ounce to this week.