© Reuters. The Lebanese pound plummets to 60,000 units per dollar
Beirut, Jan 26 (.).- The Lebanese pound fell below the barrier of 60,000 units per dollar on the black market this Thursday, where it has been collapsing for days at an unprecedented speed, after reaching just a week the all-time record of 50,000 per US bill.
According to a black market moneychanger consulted by Efe, a dollar is bought this noon for 60,000 Lebanese pounds, a currency that has lost about 95% of its value since the outbreak of a serious economic crisis in the Mediterranean country at the end of 2019.
The local currency monitoring website ‘Lirarate.org’ also confirmed the new record and places the exchange rate even a little higher, at 60,300 for the purchase of Lebanese pounds and 60,500 for exchange for dollars.
The currency is losing value at a dizzying rate, a situation that on other occasions the Central Bank had tried to tackle with the announcement of new policies or offers for its ‘Sayrafa’ exchange platform, where the pound today has a value of 38,000 units per one dollar.
Although the black market exchange rate determines the prices of almost everything in the nation of cedars, the official value of the pound is still around 1,500 units per US note and there are other parallels for banking transactions or customs taxes.
The free fall of the Lebanese currency has once again caused, for the fourth consecutive day, roadblocks to protest the rapid deterioration of living conditions and the sharp rise in prices, at a time when almost 80% of the population of the country lives in poverty.
In addition, the Mediterranean country has not had a head of state for almost three months due to disagreements between the different parliamentary blocs and the Government has been on an interim basis since last summer, so its ability to act to tackle the crisis is even more limited.
