Demand for the dollar increased over the past week, as reflected by the Lebanese pound’s peg against the dollar that went from $/LP 1,509-1,513 with a mid-price of $/LP 1,511 $/LP to 1,510-1,514 with a mid-price of $/LP 1,512 week. Foreign assets (excluding gold) at the Central Bank decreased by a monthly 1.06% from $38.89B by end-February to $38.48B by end-March. Meanwhile, the dollarization rate of private sector deposits stood at 65.51% in January 2015 compared to 65.71% in December 2014.
The Euro/dollar quote remained unchanged at to €/$1.0821. The price of gold inched up by 0.51% going from $1,198.85/ounce to $1,205.00/ounce this week.
By Thursday April 02nd, 2015, 12:30 pm Beirut time, the dollar-pegged LP stood at €/LP 1,631.27, unchanged from last week. The Nominal effective exchange Rate (NEER) lost 0.02% over the week to 163.38 points, with its year-to-date gain reaching 10.90%.