Lebanese Lira on a Steady Appreciation after the Formation of the Lebanese Government

 17/09/202110/09/2021%ChangeYTD
Euro / LP1,773.711,781.69-0.45%-3.55%
Euro / Dollar1.17661.1819-0.45%-3.55%
NEER Index141.15140.490.47%13.06%

 

Lebanese Forex Market

To-date, the Lebanese Pound (LBP) remained steady within the official range of USD/LBP 1,514 to 1,514.5, with a mid- price of USD/LBP 1,514.25 in the week of September 17, 2021.

This week, the formation of the new government are still affecting positively the exchange rate, with the national currency recorded USD/LBP 14,700 after the previous scary rate that was USD/LBP 20,000 on August 2021. However, this appreciation has limited fundamental explanation as we know that the exchange rate can be affected by some optimistic psychological behavior. As such, we shouldn’t be overoptimistic that this appreciation reflects plenty of reforms that should be done by this government.

In turn, the dollarization ratio for private sector deposits decreased from 80.37% in December 2020 to 80.27% in June 2021.

As for Euro/LBP currency pair, the Euro depreciated against the dollar-pegged LBP with the currency pair going from last week €/LBP 1,781.69 to €/LBP 1773.71 by September 19, 2021. Moreover, the Nominal Effective Exchange Rate (NEER) of the LBP slightly increased by 0.47% since September 10, 2021 to stand at 141.15 points on September 19, 2021.

International Forex Market

The Euro/USD depreciated against the dollar from last week €/USD 1.1819 to €/USD 1.1766 by September 19, 2021. The Euro is trading at its lowest level against the U.S. dollar since August, after a report showed a huge increase in Euro imports, as it grew on a faster rate than the exports.  In the US, the retail report was released this week stating that the sales are 15% higher than the last year, as it’s considered a good signal of economic recovery. As such, these two reports tell a good about the depreciation of the euro against the dollar this week.

Commodities

Gold price decreased by 2.10% at the end of this week to $1,796.5/ounce, as US dollar appreciated this week, following the positive US retail sales report.

In addition, Crude oil prices increased this week by 3.60% and recorded $75.38/Barrel, backed by positive statement from the International Energy Agency (IEA) who claimed that the vaccination roll-outs is working and expect that the global demand will increase soon.

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