A money changer in Beirut on Jan. 19, 2023. (Credit: Mohamed Azakir/File Photo/ Reuters)
BEIRUT — The Lebanese national currency hit a third depreciation record in a single day on Monday, trading at LL69,000 to the US dollar on the parallel market by the early evening.
According to the platform Lirarate.org, the dollar was trading at LL69,000 to buy and LL68,500 to sell at 5:43 p.m.
Earlier in the day, the lira successively reached LL67,000 then LL68,000 to the dollar in a matter of hours.
The gap between the latest parallel market rate and that of the Sayrafa platform (LL43,600, as of Friday evening) — designed by the Banque du Liban to try to stabilize the exchange rate — continues to widen, now amounting to approximately LL26,000.
The depreciation of the lira, which lost more than 98 percent of its value in the past three years, has plunged more than three-quarters of the Lebanese people below the poverty line.
Its value continues to fall despite a preliminary agreement between Beirut and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which calls for a floating exchange rate.
The agreement also calls for reforms that the Lebanese government must implement in order to unlock a multibillion dollar financial assistance package from the IMF.