Lebanese Pound Sinks to Record Low as Deadlock Persists

A money exchange vendor displays Lebanese pound banknotes at his shop in Beirut, Lebanon, November 25, 2021. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir
A money exchange vendor displays Lebanese pound banknotes at his shop in Beirut, Lebanon, November 25, 2021. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir
TT

Lebanese Pound Sinks to Record Low as Deadlock Persists

A money exchange vendor displays Lebanese pound banknotes at his shop in Beirut, Lebanon, November 25, 2021. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir
A money exchange vendor displays Lebanese pound banknotes at his shop in Beirut, Lebanon, November 25, 2021. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir

The Lebanese pound on Thursday hit a new record low of 50,000 pounds per US dollar, marking a loss in value of more than 95% since the country's financial system imploded in 2019.

The pound was pegged to the dollar at a rate of 1,507 in 1993, a peg that held until 2019, when decades of profligate spending, mismanagement and corruption triggered a financial crisis.

The largest bill in circulation, the 100,000 pound note formerly worth $67, is now worth just $2.

The Lebanese pound's plunge comes days after a European judicial delegation from France, Germany, and Luxembourg landed in Beirut to interrogate embattled Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh and a dozen affiliates in a European money laundering investigation of some $330 million. They so far have questioned banking officials and former central bank officials. Switzerland and Liechtenstein have also opened probes against Salameh for money laundering allegations.

Lebanon's deeply-divided parliament is meanwhile in flux. It has continuously failed to agree on a new head of state since President Michel Aoun's six-year term ended on Oct. 30. All but 18 of the Parliament's 128 legislators showed up Thursday, with most — 71 lawmakers — voting either for parliamentarian Michel Moawad, an outspoken critic of Iran-backed Hezbollah, or casting blank ballots.

The worsening political paralysis has left the country without a president and only a caretaker government, stalling a host of economic reforms aimed at stopping wasteful spending and combating rampant corruption.



Blinken again Says Israel-Hamas Ceasefire Deal is ‘Very Close’

US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken speaks to the media on the sidelines of a meeting with Japan's Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi in Tokyo, Japan, 07 January 2025. EPA/TAKASHI AOYAMA/POOL
US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken speaks to the media on the sidelines of a meeting with Japan's Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi in Tokyo, Japan, 07 January 2025. EPA/TAKASHI AOYAMA/POOL
TT

Blinken again Says Israel-Hamas Ceasefire Deal is ‘Very Close’

US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken speaks to the media on the sidelines of a meeting with Japan's Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi in Tokyo, Japan, 07 January 2025. EPA/TAKASHI AOYAMA/POOL
US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken speaks to the media on the sidelines of a meeting with Japan's Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi in Tokyo, Japan, 07 January 2025. EPA/TAKASHI AOYAMA/POOL

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is again saying that a ceasefire and hostage deal between Israel and Hamas is “very close” and he hopes “we can get it over the line” before handing over US diplomacy to the incoming administration of President-elect Donald Trump.
“In area after area, we’re handing off, in some cases, things that we haven’t been able to complete but that create real opportunities to move things forward in a better way,” he said Wednesday on a stop in Paris for meetings.
Blinken said that even if the Biden administration's plans for a ceasefire and hostage deal don’t come to fruition before Trump’s inauguration, he thinks they’ll be put into practice afterward.
“I believe that when we get that deal – and we’ll get that deal – it will be on the basis of the plans that President Biden put before the world,” he said.
Israel’s military says troops have recovered the body of an additional hostage from Gaza. The body of an Israeli hostage held in Gaza, 53-year-old Yosef AlZayadni, was recovered in an underground tunnel in southern Gaza, the military said Wednesday. It said it was examining whether a second body was that of another hostage.
Defense Minister Israel Katz said earlier a second hostage's body had been recovered: AlZayadni’s son Hamzah.
The men were taken captive during Hamas’ attack on Oct. 7, 2023. The return of the body comes as Israel and Hamas are considering a ceasefire and hostage release deal.
Israel believes a third of the remaining 100 hostages are dead. However, AlZayadni was believed to still be alive before Wednesday’s announcement.
AlZayadni, who had 19 children, had worked at a dairy in southern Israel’s Kibbutz Holit for 17 years, said the Hostages Family Forum, a group representing the families of captives. AlZayadni was kidnapped with three of his children. His teenage kids, Bilal and Aisha, were released in a weeklong ceasefire deal in November.
The family are members of the Bedouin community, part of Israel’s Palestinian minority who have Israeli citizenship.