Lebanese Forex Market
Demand for the Lebanese Pound increased over the past week on the Lebanese forex market with the value of the Lebanese Pound trading within the range of $/LP 1,513.5-1,514 with a mid-price of $/LP 1,513.75 compared to last week’s range of $/LP 1,513.75-1,514.25 with a mid-price of $/LP 1,514.
Foreign assets (excluding gold) at the Central Bank reached $41.06B in June 2017 compared to $40.71B in December 2016.
The dollarization ratio of private sector deposits rose from 65.82% in December 2016 to 66.58% by the end of May 2017.
By Friday July 28th, the euro appreciated against the dollar-pegged LP going from €/LBP 1,756.24 on the 21st of July to €/LBP 1,765.58, this week.
As for the Nominal Effective Exchange Rate (NEER) of the LBP, it dropped by 0.16% over the past week to stand at 112.27 points.
International Forex Market:
The Euro continued to rise this week against the dollar increasing by 0.53% to €/$ 1.1712. In fact, the dollar was negatively impacted this past week as the Fed kept interest rates unchanged.
Commodities:
With a weaker dollar, gold prices rose from $1,247.99/ounce to $1,258.01/ounce, this week.