A man counts dollars next to bundles of Lebanese lira banknotes, on Oct. 1, 2020 in Beirut. (Credit: Mohamed Azakir/Reuters)
The Lebanese lira broke a new depreciation record on the parallel market Tuesday, while the authorities have still not adopted reforms to curb the economic and financial crisis that has paralyzed the country since 2019.
Hovering since the weekend between LL44,000 and LL44,500, the dollar finally passed the LL45,000 mark late Tuesday afternoon. According to different applications used to track the rate, the dollar was worth LL45,100 when buying and LL 45,000 when selling.
The gap between the parallel market rate and that of the Sayrafa platform (LL30,800, as of Monday night), designed by the Banque du Liban to try to stabilize the exchange rate, continues to widen, now amounting to a difference of more than LL14,000.
The national currency has lost more than 96 percent of its value in three years of crisis.