Lebanese Pound Hits Record Low Black-Market Exchange Rate Against US Dollar

The Lebanese pound on Monday dropped to a historic low against the US dollar on the parallel, or black, market. Elnashra news reported that $1 could buy 39,000 Lebanese pounds. This is 6.6% lower than the previous record exchange rate of 36,600 pounds to the dollar, reached on September 13. Mounir Younes, an economist and former editor-in-chief of the Kuwaiti newspaper Al Qabas newspaper, said the currency’s collapse was a consequence of the country’s unprecedented economic morass, the political crisis that has delayed the formation of a new cabinet, and fears that the presidential race following the end of incumbent President Michel Aoun’s term in office, will likewise be deadlocked. Aoun himself cannot be a candidate due to a constitutionally mandated term limit. Younes also pointed to a specific cause for the increased demand for dollars: an upcoming rise in the customs dollar rate, which has spurred Lebanese merchants to increase their imports before the higher rate comes into effect. “This is why the demand for US dollar increased, which led to a further collapse of the Lebanese pound,” he said.