Does this suggest that the dollar's value will continue to decline?
During his most recent meeting with President Najib Mikati and Minister of Finance Youssef Khalil about ten days ago, Governor of the Banque du Liban Riyad Salameh asked the campaign to arrest illegal money changers be started to curb the price of the dollar.
He did this because the more serious the arrests were, the less likely the speculators would hinder his steps.
The governor will attempt to restart the Sayrafa platform and gradually increase its price to replace the black market, according to sources at the Banque du Liban.
In other words, Sayrafa opens to the public for dollar purchases and sales, and banks and authorized money changers operate there under the supervision of the Banking Control Commission.
Thus, the following can be achieved:
- People would sell their dollars on the platform rather than the black market, and the Banque du Liban would not be forced to secure dollars to intervene in the market.
- An official announcement of the dollar price would be made every day, and supermarkets, restaurants, shops, and other sectors priced in dollars would adopt this price.
- Since the platform and market prices will eventually become the same, speculative operations would cease with time. It should be noted that the International Monetary Fund requires the unification of currency rates.
Observers say that this plan is only effective for a limited time.
Only a portion of the rise or fall in the dollar price in the black market is attributable to speculative money changers; as observers say it does not exceed 10,000 LBP.
As for the exchange rate issue, it is more severe than this and stems from the persistently high scarcity of hard currency in the country due to a lack of optimism and worry about the future, as well as from the lack of reforms and the political vacuum.