BDL intervenes again to temporarily halt the severe devaluation of Lebanese pound against the dollar

 

03/03/202324/02/2023%ChangeYTD
Euro / LP15,922.5015,879.000.27%891.91%
Euro / Dollar1.06151.05860.27%-0.31%
NEER Index116.91117.03-0.10%-31.44%

 

Lebanese Forex Market

The Lebanese Pound (LBP) remained steady within the new official rate of USD/LBP 15,000 by March 03, 2023.

This week the BDL has finally intervened in the market to halt the severe devaluation of Lebanese Lira against the dollar. The Lebanese pound has depreciated against the dollar early in the week, reaching its highest level to 90,000 LBP/USD before rebounding to 80,000 by Thursday amid BDL interventions. In details, Lebanon’s central bank declared on Wednesday that it will begin selling US dollars in cash on its Sayarafa platform, starting March 2nd, at a rate of 70,000 Lebanese pounds per dollar until further notice.

As for the Euro/LBP currency pair, the Euro appreciated against the dollar-pegged LBP with the currency pair going from last week €/LBP 15,879 by February 24, 2023 to €/LBP 15,922.50 by March 03, 2023. Moreover, the Nominal Effective Exchange Rate (NEER) of the Lebanese pound went down by -0.10% weekly to stand at 116.91 points on March 03, 2023.

International Forex Market

This week, the US dollar index was oscillating between gains and losses in light of key economic data releases that indicated that inflation remains high. The dollar index was almost unchanged (-0.01%) by the end of week at 104.711

The Euro appreciated against the dollar by 0.10% to $1.06015 amid hotter European inflation data. In details, the Euro Area Flash CPI for February came in above expectations, as the headline CPI was at +8.5% (vs. +8.3% expected) while the core CPI surged by +5.6% (vs. 5.3% expected).

The British pound was beneath the 1.20 level by the end of this week and depreciated against the dollar by -0.33% to $1.199. During the week, the governor of the BoE has warned against the predictions that the central bank is finished raising interest rates or that they will necessarily need to take further action. These remarks were digested by investors as being relatively dovish, leading to a decrease in the expected amount of interest rate hikes by the end of the year, which dropped by 9.5bps to 75.6bps.

On Friday, the dollar appreciated against the Yen by +0.73% on a weekly basis after data showed that Tokyo’s CPI in February has exceeded that target  set by the Bank of Japan for the ninth consecutive months. However, the core measure of inflation did slowdown from its 42-year high.

In China, the Yuan appreciated against the dollar by +0.51% to 6.9032 on a weekly basis amid expectations of strong economic rebound. Elsewhere, the Australian dollars depreciated by -0.24% on a weekly basis to stand at 0.6763 AUD/USD by March 03, 2023.

 

Commodities

Gold prices increased by 1.32% to stand at $1,846.93/ ounce on March 03, 2023, compared to $1,822.93/ ounce in the previous week. In fact, gold prices fluctuated throughout the week as the market has received a series of economic data that pointed that inflation is still high. However, gold prices bounced back by the end of the week amid weaker dollar.

Crude oil’ prices rallied by +2.61$ to stand at $77.95/barrel on March 03, 2023 compared to $75.95/barrel in the previous week amid strong economic recovery in top crude importer China.

 

 

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