The Lebanese pound rose into the range of the dollar and entered the black market at a second exchange rate.

Khaled Abu Shakra wrote in “Nidaa Al Watan” “The lyre is back to normal.” The important thing is not the “value” of the language you speak, but it is with pride that it has returned to each lip and tongue, and has two prices: one for cash and the second for account.

With the entry into force of the Banque du Liban’s decision to “immobilize liquidity in the Lebanese pound,” a new exchange rate was added to the exchange rates, bringing the number to 6. To distinguish between them, Each price was given a different name, some funny and some strange to the audience. Unfortunately, however, they are real prices that are being traded and speculated and are considered the best evidence of the aftermarket chaos.

Six types of change

The cash dollar sits on the throne of the exchange scale and is equal to the price that circulates in the secondary market, which today is estimated at 8 thousand pounds. Immediately followed by “Al-Hawar” is the rate adopted by institutions obliged to adopt the exchange rate set by the Banque du Liban, because pricing, billing and tax calculation programs are scheduled on this basis. Consequently, these institutions deliberately raised the prices of the goods in pounds according to the exchange rate in the secondary market, and also raised their price in dollars at the same rate on the basis of 1507.5. Then comes the “dollar”, which is the dollar in the bank accounts and reserved by them, and is equivalent to 3900 pounds. Then comes the “cholar”, which is the price of checks drawn in dollars, equal to 3,000 pounds. Then there is the Lebanese pound, to which was added the “beer”, which is the price of the bank lira reserved in banks and is equal to 80 percent of the real value of the pound. To clarify more, suppose that the price of a commodity is equal to $ 1, which we have to pay approximately with the following values: 2 “lollares”, 2.5 “shoulers”, 6.5 “hollars”, 8000 liras or 9000 “beer”.

Results of multiple exchange rates

What seems like a “joke” is, in fact, a tragedy. Apart from the loss in payment, pricing and calculation of currency values ​​based on the chosen exchange rate, this reality “increases risks for companies, weakens investor confidence and leads to capital flight in hard currencies “, according to the Chairman of the Board of Directors of fxgrow International, Hassan Mazeh. At the domestic level, the multiplicity of exchange rates puts pressure on the purchasing power of citizens, eliminates the middle class and equates it with the poor, negatively affects all interests and leads to the closure of a large number of companies. Among the direct consequences that negatively affect the economy and society, according to Mazeh, is the “displacement of intellectual energies, creators and skilled labor who flee in search of a decent life and build a better future outside the borders of the world. This deprives the institutions, the economy and the productive sectors of the superiors and those trained in various fields. “