A man counts LL100,000 banknotes in Lebanon. (Credit: Anwar Amro/AFP)
BEIRUT — The Lebanese lira's latest plunge continued on Wednesday morning as it hit LL46,000 to the US dollar on the parallel market, according to several mobile tracking applications and a money changer contacted by L'Orient-Le Jour.
According to the Lirarate.org platform, at around 11 a.m. the dollar was trading at LL46,000 to sell and LL45,900 to buy, but according to an exchange agent, the rate has been fluctuating around LL46,300 since the morning.
The gap between this rate and that of the Sayrafa platform (LL31,200 on Tuesday evening), designed by the Banque du Liban to try to stabilize the exchange rate, is widening, amounting now to a difference of over LL14,800.
The national currency has lost more than 96 percent of its value in three years of financial crisis, while the authorities have still not adopted reforms to curb the country's economic and financial collapse.