Beirut, March 14 (AFP/APP):The Lebanese pound sank to a historic low against the dollar on the parallel market Tuesday, foreign exchange dealers said, as banks in the crisis-hit country resumed an open-ended strike.
The Lebanese pound, officially pegged at 15,000 to the dollar, was trading at 100,000 against the greenback, dealers said — a dizzying plunge from 1,507 before the economic crisis hit in 2019.
The currency’s market value was at around 60,000 to the dollar in late January.
Tuesday’s low marked another sombre milestone in an economic meltdown that has pushed most of the population into poverty.
Despite the gravity of the crisis, the country has no president and only a caretaker government amid persistent deadlock between rival alliances in parliament.
Lebanese banks that have long imposed draconian withdrawal restrictions — essentially locking depositors out of their life savings — were closed on Tuesday as they resumed an open-ended strike.
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