The lira is back trading at LL21,000 to the dollar. (Credit: Mohamed Azakir/Reuters)
BEIRUT — After gaining value over the past couple of weeks, the Lebanese lira fell sharply Monday evening and Tuesday morning amid uncertainty over progress in the government formation process.
Here’s what we know:
• Parallel market money changers are now buying US dollars for LL21,000, two exchangers in the Hamra neighborhood told L’Orient Today, without providing the rate at which they are selling their dollars. Exchangers’ selling rate stands at LL21,500, according to online tracking platforms.
• Residents who search for the hard currency on online chat rooms over WhatsApp or Telegram groups are being offered rates between LL21,200 and LL21,300.
• The currency started to sharply lose value following Monday’s government talks in Baabda. After meeting with President Michel Aoun, Prime Minister-designate Najib Mikati announced that there would not be any progress on cabinet formation before the anniversary of the Aug. 4 Beirut port explosion. The talks seem to have ended on a negative note, with Mikati describing the process as “slow.”
• The drop puts the lira at its weakest since the Mikati’s designation It was previously trading below LL20,000 to the dollar
• Mikati is set to meet with Aoun in Baabda on Thursday.
• The country has been without a fully empowered government since Hassan Diab’s cabinet resigned last August in wake of the port blast.