The Lebanese pound, Lira, slightly rose against the dollar ahead of the expected return of Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri to Lebanon this week after his foreign visits.
On Wednesday, the pound was trading at around 8,795 LBP on the black market according to The961’s Lebanese Lira Exchange Rate page.
Black market traders were selling the dollar for 8,820 LBP and buying it for 8,770 LBP.
The pound was stable in anticipation of the new lockdown decision. It dropped slightly as Lebanon began easing measures to slowly reopen the country.
While it continued with the 24-hour curfew and general lockdown, it granted some exceptions.
The rise of the Lira was initially brought on by rumors that Hariri would be meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron.
Prime Minister-elect Saad Hariri is in Paris to meet President Macron before returning to #Beirut to restart government talks.#Lebanon has been without a fully-functional government for six months.
— Kareem Chehayeb | كريم شهيب (@chehayebk) February 9, 2021
With conflicting media reports, it is unconfirmed whether or not the pair met.
What is known is that Hariri’s return to Lebanon to restart the government formation talks will be backed by Egypt, which he recently visited, and by France, which has reinstated its keenness on reviving the French initiative.
Macron is also set to make his third trip to exert pressure on Lebanon’s leaders to get it together and unlock billions of dollars in foreign aid to help rescue itself out of the sinking ship it has become.
