| 18/08/2023 | 11/08/2023 | %Change | YTD | |
| Euro / LP | 16,303.50 | 16,416.00 | -0.69% | 915.65% |
| Euro / Dollar | 1.0869 | 1.0944 | -0.69% | 2.07% |
| NEER Index | 237.59 | 237.58 | 0.00% | 39.32% |
Lebanese Forex Market
The Lebanese Pound (LBP) remained steady within the new official rate of USD/LBP 15,000 by August 18, 2023.
On the parallel market, the Lebanese national currency remained steady this week with an average of 89,403 LBP/USD compared to an average of 92,265 LBP/USD previous week. The pair LBP/USD recorded a minimum of 89,300 LBP/USD and a maximum of 89,600 LBP/USD during the course of this week. Although the Lebanese black market rate is stable, there is high uncertainty especially with the country’s political landscape and Central Bank’s Governance in the spotlight.
As for the Euro/LBP currency pair, the Euro depreciated against the dollar-pegged LBP with the currency pair going down from last week €/LBP 16,416 to €/LBP 16,303.5 by August 18, 2023. The Nominal Effective Exchange Rate (NEER) of the Lebanese pound remained almost stable over the course of the week to stand at 237.59 points on August 18, 2023.
International Forex Market
This week, the US dollar is stronger as the dollar index increased by 0.56% to stand at 103.414 at August 18, 2023.
In turn, the Euro depreciated against the dollar by 0.68% to stand at EUR/USD 1.0874. Meanwhile the British pound appreciated by 0.19% to stand at GBP/USD 1.272 by the week ending August 18, 2023. Indeed, UK inflation falls sharply to 6.8% in July compared to 7.9% in June, as the drop in energy prices over the past year led to the smallest increase in the cost of living since February 2022. Despite the large fall in the consumer prices index (CPI), analysts said the outlook was not improving rapidly enough to prevent further interest rate increases from the Bank of England.
As for the Japanese currency, the yen depreciated against the dollar by 0.19% to stand at USD/ JPY 145.24 by August 18, 2023, the weakest level since November 2022. The yen’s depreciation is a response to expectations that the Bank of Japan will maintain its accommodative monetary policy for the moment despite tweaks last month, giving investors incentives to sell the currency.
Back to the west, Swiss currency fell against the dollar by 0.34% on a weekly basis to stand at 0.8797 on Friday August 18, 2023.
Elsewhere, the Australian and Canadian dollar depreciated respectively by 1.42% and 0.8% from the previous week to stand at 0.6404 AUD/USD and 1.3547 USD/CAD by August 18, 2023.
Commodities
Gold recorded weekly loss and retreated by 1.06% to 1,893.45/ounce by Friday August 18, 2023. This week, the resurgence of the dollar index, fueled by hawkish signals from the Federal Reserve, caused the spot price of gold to dip below the threshold of $1,900 an ounce, its lowest value in five months.
Furthermore, crude oil prices dropped over the course of the week by 3.34% reaching $80.41 per barrel on August 18. Nevertheless, supply cuts by Saudi Arabia and Russia, part of the alliance between the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and their allies, or OPEC+, are expected to erode oil inventories in the rest of this year, potentially driving prices even higher.