A stockbroker handling a wad of dollars in Lebanon. (Credit: Joseph Eid/AFP)
BEIRUT — The Lebanese lira continued to trade below LL32,000 against the dollar on Sunday.
Here's what we know:
• The difference between the exchange rate on the parallel market and the central bank's Sayrafa platform rate — LL23,900 on Friday evening — set up in an effort to stabilize the exchange rate, continues to widen, currently exceeding LL8,000, a week after legislative elections.
• The collapse of the lira against the dollar has already caused further price increases. In the telecoms sector, the government on Friday approved an upcoming price hike from July. The employees of the sector held a general strike the same day.
• The depreciation of the lira since the onset of the financial crisis in 2019 has plunged more than three-quarters of Lebanese below the poverty line and destroyed their purchasing power. Its ongoing depreciation comes despite a preliminary agreement between the government and the International Monetary Fund, which would allocate Lebanon $3 billion for four years to help it cope with its multiple crises. The monetary institution had provided a detailed action plan listing all the reforms required from the Lebanese government for this aid to be effectively released.