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One very important thing worth mentioning. Today, the SYP ( Syrian pound ) jumped from 505 SYP to 700 SYP per dollar.

No it's not a coincidence; it's most probably because " "سكرنا الحنفيه"
Kareem wroteOne very important thing worth mentioning. Today, the SYP ( Syrian pound ) jumped from 505 SYP to 700 SYP per dollar.
It would be helpful for you to mention where that price is quoted from, and what the trading volume at this price was.
samer wrote
Kareem wroteOne very important thing worth mentioning. Today, the SYP ( Syrian pound ) jumped from 505 SYP to 700 SYP per dollar.
It would be helpful for you to mention where that price is quoted from, and what the trading volume at this price was.
I heard rumours on Twitter that the rate had massive jump in the last 2 days. I called the exchange office since I'm buying EUR lately and asked him about the SYP rate today.

He literally answered me : " the rate on monday was 530, yesterday it jumped to 600 and today we're at 690 SYP per dollar ".

Twitter post :

That one is no-brainer. Quite a bit of foreigners work in Lebanon and they come from different countries. Many transfer portions of their income back home in forms of Dollars that gets exchanged into local currency. When Lebanon doesn't have enough dollars anymore (and that why Lebanon ran out to begin with), the recipient countries suffer.
"سكرنا الحنفيه" is very accurate.

The only thing the government can still do to salvage the situation is force exchanges to fix rates at 1 dollar => 1500LL and 1525LL => 1 dollar.
VincentKeyboard wroteThat one is no-brainer. Quite a bit of foreigners work in Lebanon and they come from different countries. Many transfer portions of their income back home in forms of Dollars that gets exchanged into local currency. When Lebanon doesn't have enough dollars anymore (and that why Lebanon ran out to begin with), the recipient countries suffer.
"سكرنا الحنفيه" is very accurate.

The only thing the government can still do to salvage the situation is force exchanges to fix rates at 1 dollar => 1500LL and 1525LL => 1 dollar.

A jump of 40% in few days gives you an idea about the amount of money that's been sent to their country.

I want to add that last saturday, Western Union Tayouneh branch was accepting transfers in LBP to USD to very specific countries ( Bangladesh, Philippines, Nepal, Sri-lanka, etc... ) at a rate of 1520.

Our housekeeper had to wait literally 5 hours in a queue.


wollyka wroteYou can check the daily rates here:
http://www.businessnews.com.lb/

Very useful thanks. I hope it's accurate.
Well, that's a big part of it isn't it. You go to the exchange, give them dollars, they sell them to people who then get them out of the country instead of keeping it here. This is why banks are limiting these transactions, so things don't get worse. I still believe if people didn't use those exchanges things would stabilize and go back to normal or close to it (in the 1500's) but if we keep giving them dollars and them giving them out to people leaving, we're digging ourselves in.

I remember in Canada I was only allowed to exchange money at the casino or at the border/duty free. Maybe Lebanon should implement something like that, or we switch to dollars once and for all lol.
beezer wroteWell, that's a big part of it isn't it. You go to the exchange, give them dollars, they sell them to people who then get them out of the country instead of keeping it here. This is why banks are limiting these transactions, so things don't get worse. I still believe if people didn't use those exchanges things would stabilize and go back to normal or close to it (in the 1500's) but if we keep giving them dollars and them giving them out to people leaving, we're digging ourselves in.

I remember in Canada I was only allowed to exchange money at the casino or at the border/duty free. Maybe Lebanon should implement something like that, or we switch to dollars once and for all lol.

Well, according to the ILO, an estimated number of 300,000 Syrian workers were located in Lebanon before the outbreak of the Syrian crisis. So you can imagine the number after the outbreak.

If you do the math, and assume that 90% of them are getting paid in LBP the minimum wage of 500,000 LBP, which is an approximation, that's roughly 150 billion of LBP a month or 100 million dollars ( 1500 LBP / usd ) and a 1.2 Billion dollar a year.

We're still assuming that the number of workers is 300,000 ( which IMO is much higher) and taking into consideration the minimum wage.

I did not take into consideration the SYP coming from Syria that is being converted to USD and sent back. This alone is very detrimental to the economy, liquidity and the stability of the LBP exchange rate.

We're talking here about more than 4 Billion dollars per year that's being transferred outside the country to Syria alone. And no, I'm not exaggerating.
Wow, never knew the flight is so cheap to Cyprus. It makes sense actually to buy a small flat there and come to Lebanon twice per month or so if it's that cheap.

Do we need visa to get to Cyprus? Is it easy, etc?
TheIlluminative wrote
Do we need visa to get to Cyprus? Is it easy, etc?
Someone told me that for the Turkish side in Cyprus, you just need a Lebanese passport but I cannot confirm this.
Having said that, please be advised that taxi fares there are very expensive.
Guitaret wrote
TheIlluminative wrote
Do we need visa to get to Cyprus? Is it easy, etc?
Someone told me that for the Turkish side in Cyprus, you just need a Lebanese passport but I cannot confirm this.
Having said that, please be advised that taxi fares there are very expensive.
Yes North Cyprus you don't need a visa, as it's considered a Turkish side. But would like to get to Paphos with that cheap ticket ;)
Cyprus is part of the EU
Be careful, and make sure your card works abroad before traveling. Banks are aware of the way mentioned earlier. They took a measure by canceling international transactions.
Official BDL Rate Is Still stable :

Sell: 1517
Buy: 1515

Which the Lebanese Banks Association follows.

The Problem is :

1- A "Dollarized" economy where many services / commodities are priced in USD . Example : Prepaid Mobile Cards , ISPs Prepaid Cards ..

2- Irregulated Exchange market , black market , with weak actions taken to counter high exchange rate - for years.

3 - Billions of Dollars were transfered from the Lebanese Banks to the Syrian regime , to stablize further devaluation of SP infront of USD. The Dollars / LBP rate exchange rate witnessed irruption and started before the Revolution.

4- Banks are afraid with further draw , added due to recent instability, which affect their liquidity. They took the draw measures ( limits , ceilings , transfers limits ..etc)
Today's update from AUDI:
ATM will not be filled with USD still and you can only withdraw a max of 300$ per week from the counter (not the promised 1000$) and good luck waiting in lines for this petty 300$.
I called BLOM bank today and surprisingly learned this:
If you have an LBP card you can use it to make purchases on international websites.

However, if you need to make purchases on local websites in USD (such as HiCart), you can only use a USD card.
Adnan wroteI called BLOM bank today and surprisingly learned this:
If you have an LBP card you can use it to make purchases on international websites.

However, if you need to make purchases on local websites in USD (such as HiCart), you can only use a USD card.
The bank where their payment gateway is hosted has blocked the LBP cards
I have an internet card from Blom in usd.
It has like 200$ on it. Do you guys think they can give them to me hassle free? Are they giving USD?