BEIRUT, Aug 23 (NNN-NNA) – The Lebanese pound, yesterday sank to a new historic low, on the parallel market, amid the country’s protracted financial crisis, local media reported.
The exchange rate of the Lebanese pound declined to 34,250 against the U.S. dollar, down from the previous record low of 30,000 against the dollar earlier this month, reported the Elnashra news website.
Mounir Younes, an economist and former editor-in-chief of Al Qabas newspaper in Kuwait, attributed the latest collapse of the currency to Lebanon’s central bank’s failure, to provide oil importers with U.S. dollars, which compelled them to buy the greenback on the black market.
Younes also attributed the local currency’s depreciation to the absence of a functioning government, and the uncertainty of the presidential election in Lebanon.
Lebanon has been facing an unprecedented financial crisis, and the country has so far failed to implement structural reform measures, to reach a deal with the International Monetary Fund and unlock billions of dollars in aid from the international community.
The Lebanese pound, which for the last 30 years has been pegged to the U.S. dollar, has lost 95 percent of its value since the beginning of the country’s financial crisis in 2019.
