Lebanese Pound Falls to Historic Low Against Dollar

In Lebanon, the dollar, which was traded at 100,000 lira on the black market on March 14, broke a new record today by rising to 140,000 lira. The Lebanese lira has lost 99 percent of its value against the dollar over the past three years. Today, 1 US dollar was traded at 140,000 lira on the Black Market, a historic high. Following the lira’s depreciation, citizens in different parts of the country closed roads to traffic in response to the high cost of living and rising fuel prices. The Traffic Department of the Ministry of Interior announced that citizens were blocking roads with their vehicles on the main streets of the capital Beirut. Another report in the Lebanese official agency NNA reported that demonstrators were blocking roads in the cities of Tyre and Tripoli and were protesting by lighting fires in some areas. On March 14, the dollar was traded at 100,000 Lebanese lira. Economic crisis in Lebanon The demonstrations that started in Lebanon in October 2019, the resignation of the government, the port explosion in Beirut and the Covid-19 pandemic have deeply affected the country's economy. In order to prevent the meltdown of foreign exchange reserves in the economic crisis that has been going on for about 3.5 years, dollar deposit accounts in banks were frozen. While 1 US dollar was traded at 1,500 Lebanese pounds in 2019, the local currency's depreciation increased simultaneously with the successive developments. While 1 US dollar was worth 20,000 Lebanese pounds in January 2022, the depreciation has continued to increase rapidly in the last year. Minister of Economy Emin Salam said on February 28 that price tags in all markets across the country will be shown in dollars instead of liras as of March 1, so that citizens can buy products at their real prices.