Nabil Bou Ghantous says Lebanon anticipates fluctuations in the exchange rate within coming days

Nabil Bou Ghantous, Official Representative and Head of the European Department for Lebanon at UCEE Union of European Experts Chambers, questioned the reasons behind the sudden surge of the US dollar on Saturday evening, reaching LBP 100,000 before dropping back to LBP 95,000 within less than an hour. 

He stated, "One hour was enough to test people's patience. Many rushed to collect as much green currency as possible in the market, and some fuel stations stopped selling fuel in Lebanese lira. The situation escalated to the point of affecting bakeries and other sectors." 

Bou Ghantous believed that "what Bank of Beirut announced in a statement that huge money in Lebanese lira was paid to contractors, sourced from the state, was behind what happened, as they rushed to buy as many US dollars as possible from the market, so what happened was confusion, and the green currency moved up and then down."

He expected that "the coming days will witness fluctuations in the exchange rate."

He concluded, "It is natural to witness financial and monetary challenges, especially given the absence of effective financial and monetary policies. We may be heading towards further collapses."