Lebanon banks to sell dollars at approved rate starting March 28

Lebanese banks will be allowed to sell the local currency for US dollars and vice-versa starting March 28, on the basis of the rate determined by the central bank’s “Sayrafa” platform, the central bank said on Friday.

There will be no limitation on the volume of currency exchanged at the banks, it added in a statement.

Fuel imports will be based on an exchange rate of 22,200 Lebanese pounds per dollar, until March 29, it said.

The average exchange rate on Sayrafa on Thursday was 22,150 pounds per dollar, the central bank said.

The central bank began allowing commercial banks to purchase unlimited amounts of US dollars on its Sayrafa platform in January, an intervention that helped the pound to strengthen from a low of 34,000 to the dollar.

The Lebanese pound has lost more than 90 per cent of its value since 2019, when the financial system collapsed, plunging the majority of Lebanese into poverty.