Lebanese Currenty Reaches New Historic Low against US Dollar

On Monday, the exchange rate of the US dollar continued to rise against the Lebanese pound on the (parallel) black market, as it approached 94,000 pounds per dollar.

According to online applications that monitor the parallel market exchange rate, the dollar was bought at 93,500 Lebanese pounds and sold at 93,800 shortly on Sunday evening.

The new historic low of 92,000 Lebanese pounds to one dollar was recorded on Wednesday afternoon.

In a statement issued on Wednesday evening, BDL Governor Riad Salameh announced a series of measures that will take effect Thursday and will continue until further notice.

The Lebanese pound has been officially pegged at 1,507 to the dollar since 1997, a rate that has not reflected its true market value for years as the currency has been in free fall, with multiple parallel exchange rates coexisting.

The accelerated fall of the Lebanese currency in the last two weeks follows the amendment of the official fixed exchange rate from 1,507.5 Lebanese pounds to 15,000 against the dollar as of Feb. 1, 2023.

Last week, without any official announcement, authorities tripled the cost of the customs dollar, an exchange rate used to calculate customs duties on imports, from 15,000 to 45,000 Lebanese pounds against the dollar, according to L'Orient Today.

In more than three years of an acute economic crisis, the Lebanese national currency has depreciated by more than 98 percent, said the report.