Money Exchange Houses Suspend Trading Until Monday

The Syndicate of Money Changers in Lebanon led by Mahmoud Mrad announced late on Thursday suspension of trading from Friday until Monday in a “warning” measure against the continued downward spiral of Lebanese Pound to the US dollar.

The Syndicate assured that “legal” exchange houses “who play the role of mediator, have no role in this crazy chaos of the dollar price, fueled by rumors and erroneous electronic platforms that give reckless economic analysis most of the time to only reap fame.”

They said it has “led to panic amid an alarming economic environment making people and traders rush to buy dollars.”

Legal exchange traders are finding themselves as a “hostage” between the demand and supply of dollars, and have therefore decided to stop trading in an attempt to the deterioration of the Lebanese pound.

The Syndicate urged related authorities to “suppress impersonators of the profession of money trading and other negative factors leading to a deterioration in the exchange rate.”

On Thursday, Lebanon's currency continued its downward spiral against the dollar, reaching a new low amid financial turmoil in the crisis-hit country compounded by the coronavirus outbreak.

The Lebanese pound traded between 3,500 and 3,700 to the dollar on Thursday, a sharp jump amid general currency depreciation that began in March. It had been pegged to the dollar at 1,500 pounds since 1990, the end of the country's civil war.