Salameh Says BDL Seeks to Bring Dollar Price Down Gradually

Central Bank governor Riad Salameh said the central bank aims to bring the price of the US dollar down, in agreement with the licensed money changers, in order to help stabilize the prices, media reports said on Wednesday.

The "central bank’s goal in agreement with licensed money changers is to bring the dollar price down progressively in the parallel market in order to contribute as much as we can to price stability,” Salameh was quoted as saying.

“This approach is necessary in a cash economy ... we hope that reforms will be implemented ... to bring confidence,” he added.

After a crisis meeting last week, President Michel Aoun announced that the central bank would implement measures including "feeding dollars into the market", in a bid to support the Lebanese pound.

A new electronic foreign exchange trading platform will open on June 23 as part of efforts to unify the price of dollars on a parallel market.

Salameh said the platform aims to guide the market.

“The daily volume is 4 million dollars on average. These amounts are purchased from the market and sold to the market. Therefore, the reserves of the central bank are not in danger. The central bank is always committed to maintaining the stability of the Lebanese pound or at least calming the fluctuations in the exchange market,” he concluded.