Crisis-hit Lebanon adopts new official exchange rate

A clerk counts banknotes at a currency exchange office in Lebanon’s capital Beirut, [JOSEPH EID/AFP via Getty Images]

Lebanon’s Central Bank announced, Wednesday, that it has set a new exchange rate for the country’s currency, at 15,000 lira against the US dollar, a devaluation of nearly 90 per cent, from the old rate of 1,507 lira, Anadolu News Agency reports.

According to the Central Bank, the new exchange rate is effective from Wednesday.

However, according to private exchange offices in Lebanon, the dollar is still trading for nearly 59,000 lira on the parallel market.

READ: Cash is king in Lebanon as banks atrophy

Since 2019, Lebanon has been in a crippling economic crisis that the World Bank says is among the worst the world has seen in modern times.

According to experts, 80 per cent of Lebanon’s population lives below the poverty line, as prices for basic goods have increased by nearly 1,200 per cent.

READ: If governments are powerless to curb inflation, who is actually controlling the economy?

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