The dollar is sharply higher on the black market against the black market as a result of the announcement of the withdrawal of Prime Minister Saad Hariri who thus renounces, 11 months after the resignation of the Hassan Diab government and 9 months after his appointment following compulsory parliamentary consultations, to form a 4th government.
According to current indications, at the time of this writing, it will now cost 20,500 LL to buy a dollar, in a very volatile market and described as irrational and this despite the announcement of the payment by the International Monetary Fund of 860 million dollars yesterday in Lebanon.
The crossing of this symbolic level intervenes for lack of prospect for the release of the economic aid of the international community considered necessary to revive the local economy. This requires the formation of a government and the establishment of institutional, economic and monetary reforms prior to the release of funds.
A new government is also necessary to relaunch negotiations with the International Monetary Fund or with creditors holding a large volume of Eurobonds who defaulted in April 2020.
Some sources accuse the banks and the Banque du Liban, via circular 158, of being at the origin of the brutal deterioration of the parity of the Lebanese pound against the dollar in recent weeks, the private banks having bought large quantities. foreign currency on the black market to comply with this new regulation. The situation then deteriorated due to political tensions, particularly over the formation of the government.
As a reminder, the Lebanese pound has now lost more than 92% of its value against the dollar, leading to a considerable deterioration in purchasing power. Henceforth, the minimum wage would only amount to less than $ 34 per month while the median wage to less than $ 114 per month, or less than $ 3 per day which is considered to be the poverty line.
