The Lebanese pound or lira is rising slightly against the dollar as government formation talks return to the center of attention.
On Friday, the pound trades at around 8,575 LBP on the black market with black market traders selling the dollar at 8,600 LBP and buying it at 8,550 LBP.
The rise comes after a previous drop to the 8,700-8,800 LBP exchange rate earlier this week, which was the highest exchange rate in over a month.
With Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri back from a family holiday the government formation talks are expected to pick up from where they left off, before deciding to take time off over Christmas and New Year’s.
This includes mediation by Maronite Patriarch Mar Bechara Boutros Al-Rahi to bring Hariri and President Michel Aoun together to settle their differences over Cabinet formation once and for all.
Lebanon has been without a government for 5 months since PM Hassan Diab resigned after the disastrous Beirut blast. The country’s leaders are yet to achieve anything constructive since the tragedy.
Neither has an investigation into the blast been successful nor has the creation of a rescue government seen a ray of hope.
