The Central Bank of Lebanon will sell U.S. dollars to banks at the recently announced Sayrafa exchange rate next week.
In a statement issued on Friday, Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh said that the Banque du Liban (BDL) “will sell U.S. dollars to banks participating in the Sayrafa platform at the price of 12,000 pounds per dollar.”
Accordingly, he asked interested Sayrafa users to register all requests on the platform, starting Monday, May 31st until Wednesday, June 2nd, provided that payment at registration is in cash Lebanese pounds.
“U.S. dollars are paid exclusively with correspondent banks,” Salameh added, noting that the Banking Control Commission of Lebanon has been tasked with ensuring that money changers “adhere to the implementation of relevant circulars.”
Last week, the BDL set the exchange rate of the Lebanese pound against the dollar at 12,000 LBP/USD on the Sayrafa platform, a few days after the platform was launched.
Governor Salameh has since announced that depositors in Lebanese banks will be able to receive $50,000 by the end of June.
This move is in line with the BDL‘s plan to relieve the Lebanese by allowing them to access their deposits after months of being locked out of them by banks.
