A money exchanger in Beirut in Sept. 2022. (Credit: Anwar Amro/AFP)
BEIRUT — The Lebanese lira on Wednesday morning was trading above LL60,000 against the dollar on the parallel market after briefly gaining some value earlier this week, according to online application.
According to the tracking website Lirarate.org the dollar was buying at LL63,300 and selling at LL63,000 shortly as of Wednesday evening.
This depreciation comes as Banque Du Liban increases the official lira rate from LL1,507.5 to LL15,000 to the dollar, a 90 percent devaluation.
Last week the lira reached record-breaking lows, trading around LL63,000 against the dollar before dipping back below the LL60,000 mark.
On Tuesday, BDL governor Riad Salameh confirmed an earlier decision that the Lebanese lira's official rate against the dollar will rise from LL1,507.5 to LL15,000 as of Wednesday. The change marks the first alteration in the lira's official exchange rate in 25 years.
With the change, Salameh said that commercial banks "will see a decrease in their assets in lira once converted to dollars" at this new rate. As a result, they will have five years "to recover the losses caused by the devaluation" of the lira, he said.
Implementation of this new official rate coincides with Circulars No. 151 and No. 158 coming into force. These measures replace the so-called "lollar" rates (the rates at which dollars deposited into banks before late 2019 can be withdrawn from commercial bank accounts) of LL8,000 and LL12,000, as announced on Jan. 20.
The LL15,000 rate has already been in effect for the "customs dollar" (the rate used to calculate lira customs duties on dollar-priced imports) since Dec. 1.