The Lebanese currency continued its decline on the black market Monday, with an unprecedented rate exceeding 26,000 against the dollar.
The pound had been pegged — and officially still is — to the dollar since 1997 at a rate of 1,500.
The central bank has recently raised the exchange rate for USD deposits from 3,900 to 8,000 Lebanese pounds. The move had an immediate ripple effect on the black market value of the pound which reached on Monday noon a record low of 26,550 to the dollar.
Some observers predict the Lebanese pound could drop to a rate of 40,000 against the dollar or worse in the coming weeks.
The financial crisis that started in 2019 is the worst in the country’s history and has left four in five Lebanese living under the poverty line.