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Lebanon Central Bank to Use Forex Rate of 15,000 Pounds per Dollar as of Feb. 1 

US dollar banknotes and Lebanese pounds are pictured at a currency exchange shop in Beirut, Lebanon March 2, 2021. (Reuters)
US dollar banknotes and Lebanese pounds are pictured at a currency exchange shop in Beirut, Lebanon March 2, 2021. (Reuters)
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Lebanon Central Bank to Use Forex Rate of 15,000 Pounds per Dollar as of Feb. 1 

US dollar banknotes and Lebanese pounds are pictured at a currency exchange shop in Beirut, Lebanon March 2, 2021. (Reuters)
US dollar banknotes and Lebanese pounds are pictured at a currency exchange shop in Beirut, Lebanon March 2, 2021. (Reuters)

Lebanon's central bank will adopt an exchange rate of 15,000 Lebanese pounds per US dollar as of Feb. 1 as part of a process to unify the country's multiple exchange-rate system, Lebanese central bank governor Riad Salameh said on Monday. 

The central bank's official rate is currently set at 1,500 pounds per US dollar, a rate that has become all but defunct since a 2019 financial implosion that has seen the currency lose more than 95% of its value. 

The parallel market exchange rate was hovering at around 39,000 pounds per dollar on Monday. 

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World Bank Redirects Funds Towards Lebanon Emergency Aid

Flames rise from Israeli airstrikes in Dahiyeh, Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, Oct. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
Flames rise from Israeli airstrikes in Dahiyeh, Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, Oct. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
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World Bank Redirects Funds Towards Lebanon Emergency Aid

Flames rise from Israeli airstrikes in Dahiyeh, Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, Oct. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
Flames rise from Israeli airstrikes in Dahiyeh, Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, Oct. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

The World Bank announced on Thursday that it was redirecting funds originally earmarked for development programs in Lebanon towards emergency aid for people displaced by Israeli bombardment of the country.

"The World Bank is activating emergency response plans to be able to repurpose resources in the portfolio to respond to the urgent needs of people in Lebanon," said a statement from the US-based multilateral institution.

The multilateral institution currently has $1.5 billion in funding for programs in Lebanon. Part of this amount will be redirected.

Since September 23, more than 1,000 people have been killed in an Israeli air-and-ground campaign on Lebanon that has targeted armed group Hezbollah in the south and east of the country, with strikes expanding to include the capital Beirut.

Thousands have been displaced since the bombing began, and the funds would be used to provide aid to those populations, the World Bank said.

"This would include emergency support to displaced people that could be deployed through a digital platform the World Bank helped put in place during the Covid epidemic," the statement said.