Lebanon’s currency fell to a new low Tuesday, with parallel market rates hitting 100,000 Lebanese pounds to the dollar.
While the official rate is set at 15,000 Lebanese pounds to the dollar, private money exchangers said the black-market rate used in most transactions in the country had reached 100,000 pounds to a dollar.
The currency has been sinking since an economic crisis erupted in Lebanon in 2019, one that the World Bank has called one of the world’s worst since the mid-19th century.
The currency plummet, coupled with withdrawal limits at banks, have led to protests and lawsuits from depositors who say they cannot access their money.
Banks on Tuesday resumed a strike they began in early February to protest judiciary actions against them, including a court order for one of the country’s largest banks to pay some of its depositors’ savings in cash. – gb
