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☆ Lebanon Christian cleric urges state control of weapons after clash
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-13 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

BEIRUT, Aug 13 (Reuters) - Lebanon's top Christian cleric called for state control over weapons on Sunday, days after a deadly clash between Christian villagers and the heavily armed group Hezbollah over an overturned truck of ammunition. A Hezbollah member and a Christian resident were killed in Wednesday's exchange of fire in the village of Kahaleh, near Beirut, which began when a Hezbollah truck carrying ammunition turned over while driving through the area. In his sermon on Sunday, cleric Patriarch Bechara Boutros al-Rai called for "all parties" and other elements of the country "to unite under the banner of the state, especially regarding the use of weapons". Its arsenal has long been a point of conflict in Lebanon, where its opponents accuse the group of undermining the state. Lebanon has been suffering a four-year-long financial collapse that has marked its most destabilising episode since the 1975-90 civil war.

Persons: Bechara Boutros, Rai, Maya Gebeily, Nick Macfie Organizations: Iran's, Guards, Thomson Locations: BEIRUT, Kahaleh, Beirut, Iran, Lebanese, Lebanon

Complicating the matter for DeSantis: Trump, the front-runner in the race by far, appears unwilling to provide him with a target. Rival campaigns smell blood in the water as DeSantis has faced questions over profligate campaign spending and his readiness for the national stage. In the most recent Reuters/Ipsos poll, released last week, Trump held 47% of the Republican vote nationally, with DeSantis dropping six points from July down to just 13%. Rick Santorum, a former U.S. senator and Republican presidential candidate who participated in a series of debates in the 2012 election, said DeSantis will need to be ready for an “onslaught” of attacks. “If I was on that stage, I would be going after Trump,” Santorum said.

Persons: Ron Desantis, Tucker Carlson, Scott Morgan, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, Donald Trump, Trump, DeSantis, Nikki Haley, ”, Robert Bigelow, Rick Santorum, Santorum, “, ” Santorum, Justin Sayfie, Jeb Bush, ” Sayfie, Charlie Crist, Haley, Doug Burgum, Chris Christie, Tim Scott, Vivek Ramaswamy, Mike Pence, Pence, Christie, “ That’s, ” Aaron Kall, It’s, ” Kall, Marco Rubio, James Oliphant, Gram Slattery, Colleen Jenkins, Alistair Bell Organizations: Former Fox, Iowa Events Center, REUTERS, Florida Governor, Trump, Republican, United Nations, Reuters, Harvard Law School, TRUMP, New, University of Michigan, Thomson Locations: Florida, Des Moines , Iowa, U.S, Milwaukee, Haley , North Dakota, New Jersey

☆ Meta's stock just wrapped up its ninth straight monthly gain as Wall Street cheers cost cuts
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-31 | by ( Jonathan Vanian | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

In this article META Follow your favorite stocks CREATE FREE ACCOUNTMark Zuckerberg, CEO, Meta Platforms, in July 2021. Kevin Dietsch | Getty Images News | Getty ImagesA year ago, Meta's stock was in the midst of a nosedive as Wall Street grew concerned that threats to the business were increasingly existential. Despite slipping on Monday, Meta's stock climbed 11% in July, wrapping up its ninth straight month of gains, by far the longest such stretch since Facebook's IPO in 2012. watch nowMeta has been the second-best performing stock in the S&P 500 this year, behind only Nvidia . Then came the cost cuts and Zuckerberg's promise early this year that 2023 would be the "year of efficiency."

Persons: Mark Zuckerberg, Kevin Dietsch, Mark Zuckerberg's, Zuckerberg, Frances Haugen, Haugen's Organizations: Meta, Getty, Facebook, Nvidia, Apple, Nurphoto Locations: Ukraine, Russia, China

☆ Canada's Trudeau sets sights on fourth election fight with Cabinet refresh
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-30 | by ( Steve Scherer | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

With a string of recent polls showing the left-leaning Liberals trailing their right-of-center Conservative rivals after almost eight years in power, Trudeau changed or shifted three-quarters of his cabinet. But with the influential Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland, who is also deputy prime minister, keeping her job, some analysts are questioning the real impact of the changes. But the deal is not binding and Trudeau needs his campaign team ready to go at any time. No Canadian prime minister since Wilfrid Laurier in 1908 has won four consecutive elections. "Any advantage the Conservatives have on this may well evaporate if we see inflation and interest rates 'normalize' by the next election."

Persons: Justin Trudeau, Liberal leader's, Trudeau, Pierre Poilievre, Justin, flation, Frank Graves, it's, Chrystia Freeland, Robert Asselin, Wilfrid Laurier, Shachi Kurl, Angus Reid, Steve Scherer, David Ljunggren, Marguerita Choy Organizations: OTTAWA, Canadian, Liberal, Liberals, Conservative, Abacus, Conservatives, EKOS Research, Business Council of Canada, New Democrats, Angus Reid Institute, Thomson

CENTRAL BANK 'SHATTERED'It has marked a dramatic reversal for a man once seen as a possible president. After taking the helm of the central bank, Salameh built a reputation as a competent steward of the financial system. The central bank, known as Banque du Liban (BDL), has always said the operations were legal. Defending his record on Wednesday, Salameh said the central bank had contributed to "establishing economic stability and development" during 27 years of his tenure. "Neither directly nor indirectly did any money from the Central Bank go to Forry," Salameh said in Wednesday's interview.

Persons: Riad Salameh, Salameh, LBCI, Nasser Saidi, Raja, Salameh's, Marianne Howayek, Howayek, Friederike Heine, Tom Perry, Toby Chopra Organizations: Reuters, Banque du Liban, Forry Associates, Central Bank, Thomson Locations: BEIRUT, Lebanese, Lebanon, Banque, Salameh, France, Germany

☆ Trump shows in Iowa he still rules the GOP – despite his deepening criminal peril
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-29 | by ( Stephen Collinson | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +11 min

“As it stands right now, you will be voting in Iowa, while multiple criminal cases are pending against former President Trump,” Hutchinson said. Donald Trump is not running for president to represent the people that voted for him in 2016 and 2020,” Hurd said to loud boos. “Donald Trump is running to stay out of prison,” he said as jeers started to crescendo. But if Trump is to be stopped, there is no sign so far that it will happen in Iowa. Unlike some of the other GOP candidates, Trump is not using the dinner to also hold multiple Iowa campaign stops.

Persons: Donald Trump, didn’t, quagmire, Trump, Dunn, ” Trump, Jack Smith, Biden, ”, –, Ron DeSantis, ” DeSantis, Mike Pence, White, ” Pence, I’m, Asa Hutchinson, ” Hutchinson, Will Hurd, “ Donald Trump, ” Hurd, jeers, Joe Biden, it’s, Sen, Barack Obama, Jackson, Scott Olson, DeSantis, South Carolina Sen, Tim Scott, Hawkeye, there’s, Donald J, “ I’m, ” Scott, “, Chris Christie Organizations: CNN, Republican, Brooks, Capitol, GOP, Florida Gov, ABC News, White House, Fox News, Trump . Former Arkansas Gov, Former Texas Rep, CIA, Trump, Democratic, Jefferson, White, Hawkeye State, Iowa, Getty, North, Fox, South, Democrats, New, New Jersey Gov Locations: Iowa, America, Florida, Manhattan, Iowa –, Mar, Erie , Pennsylvania, Des Moines, Hawkeye, North America, South Carolina, “ Hello Iowa, New Jersey, New Hampshire

☆ Argentina should ditch the peso in favor of a 'hard dollar regime' to get inflation under control, think tank says
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-28 | by ( Jason Ma | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Argentina should adopt the US dollar to get inflation under control, the Cato Institute said. "This type of hard dollar regime is exactly what Argentina needs now." This type of hard dollar regime is exactly what Argentina needs now," Cato researchers wrote in a paper published on Thursday. A top presidential candidate has proposed switching to the dollar as a way to tame inflation, which is soaring more than 100%. Other countries use the dollar as their primary currency or alongside a local currency, including some in Latin America.

Persons: Cato, Steve Hanke, Argentina's, Hanke, dollarization Organizations: Cato Institute, Service, Argentine, International Monetary Fund, Johns Hopkins University Locations: Argentina, Wall, Silicon, Latin America

☆ UAE crypto scammer sentenced to 8 years in prison for multimillion dollar fraud scheme
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-19 | by ( Rohan Goswami | In Rohangoswamicnbc | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

A United Arab Emirates resident and Nigerian citizen was sentenced to 8 years in federal prison for orchestrating a multi-million dollar fraud scheme that victimized businesses across the U.S., Illinois federal prosecutors said. Ponle worked with a network of scammers to masquerade as corporate entities using phishing emails. Ponle will forfeit those items, collectively valued at over $1 million, and pay more than $8 million in restitution to victim companies. Ponle was prosecuted despite the lack of an extradition treaty between the UAE and the United States. Federal officials at the DOJ'S Office of International Affairs worked with their UAE counterparties to secure Ponle's rendition.

Persons: Olaekan Jacob Ponle, Ponle, Royce Cullinan, Lamborghini Organizations: Jumeirah, United, United Arab Emirates, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Justice Department, Royce, UAE, Federal, DOJ'S, International Affairs, UAE counterparties Locations: Dubai, United Arab Emirates, United Arab, U.S, , Illinois, UAE, Nigeria, Nigerian, United States

☆ Russia has been scrambling to find missiles to fire at Ukraine, but it's not going to run out of them
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-18 | by ( Benjamin Brimelow | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

Russia has had to dig deep into its arsenal to find missiles to fire at targets in Ukraine. ReutersBy far, most missiles fired by Russia into Ukraine have been launched from aircraft — mainly Tu-95, Tu-22M, and Tu-160 bombers and Su-24 and Su-35 fighter-bombers. Other air-to-surface missiles used by Russia include the Kh-25, Kh-29, Kh-31, Kh-58, and Kh-59. Russia has also fired interceptor missiles from S-300 and S-400 air-defense batteries at targets in Ukraine. Remnants of Russian missiles and shells at a collection site in Kharkiv in December.

Persons: Ian Williams, Kinzhal, Alexander Zemlianichenko, Oleksii, Valentyna, Williams, Yan Dobronosov, Russia's Organizations: Service, Russian, Missile Defense, Center for Strategic, International Studies, Army, Reuters, CSIS, Russia, AP, Getty, Kharkiv Regional, reallocating, Ukraine Locations: Russia, Ukraine, Wall, Silicon, Moscow, Russian, Ukrainian, Belarus, Kyiv, Alexandra, Alexander Zemlianichenko Russian, Kharkiv, United States

☆ Lebanon PM will not extend central bank governor's mandate
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

BEIRUT, July 10 (Reuters) - Lebanon's caretaker premier, Najib Mikati, will not extend the term of central bank Governor Riad Salameh when it ends later this month, the prime minister's office said on Monday. One of Lebanon's four vice governors told Reuters that all four were considering quitting together if no successor is named, raising the possibility of a leaderless central bank amid a deep financial crisis. Mikati's deputy, Saade Chami, told Reuters last week that such a threat was "dangerous" and that the vice governors should "assume their responsibility in case this appointment is not possible." Central bank governors are typically appointed by the president, but parliament has been unable to elect a president to follow Michel Aoun, whose term ended in late October. The central bank governor, who was once a regular at banking conferences and high-end restaurants, is now rarely seen in public except for occasional media interviews.

Persons: Najib Mikati, Riad Salameh, Salameh, Saade Chami, Michel Aoun, Nabih Berri, Berri, Mikati, Maya Gebeily, Mark Heinrich, Leslie Adler Organizations: Reuters, Thomson Locations: BEIRUT, Central

☆ Jim Cramer: Here's my outlook on stocks for the rest of 2023 — and how I'm playing it
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-25 | by ( Jim Cramer | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +13 min

A 6% solution to no inflation from the stock market. But not enough, again, because of the wave of money that's now flowing through the sand of the economy. As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade. Jim waits 45 minutes after sending a trade alert before buying or selling a stock in his charitable trust's portfolio. If Jim has talked about a stock on CNBC TV, he waits 72 hours after issuing the trade alert before executing the trade.

Persons: —, Jensen Huang, Jensen, ChatGPT, Leonardo Da Vinci, Tesla, Elon, let's, Jerome Powell, Powell, Joseph Stalin, dismissively, FANG, That's, Wall, LEN, Salesforces, Cook, Zuckerberg, Huang, Jim Cramer's, Jim Cramer, Jim, Jim Cramer Rob Kim Organizations: Apple, Microsoft, Nvidia, Treasury, Federal Reserve, Tesla, Fed, Boeing, Devices, Adobe, Toll, Royal, Holdings, Musk, Jim Cramer's Charitable, CNBC Locations: Ukraine, Royal Caribbean

NEW YORK, June 22 (Reuters) - Bankrupt crypto exchange FTX on Thursday sued a former aide to Hilary Clinton and the former aide's investment firm, seeking to claw back $700 million in investments allegedly made with misappropriated FTX funds. Bankman-Fried authorized investments in K5 projects that enriched Kives and Baum with no payoff for FTX or its customers, who were footing the bill, FTX alleged. FTX has also filed lawsuits over its pre-bankruptcy investment in the stock platform Embed and its payments toGenesis Global Capital, the bankrupt lending arm of crypto firm Genesis. FTX on Wednesday announced a settlement with the Metropolitan Museum of Art, in which the museum agreed to return $550 million in donations that it received from FTX companies in 2022. Reporting by Dietrich Knauth in New York Editing by Alexia Garamfalvi and Matthew LewisOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Hilary Clinton, misappropriated, FTX, Sam Bankman, Fried, Michael Kives, Bryan Baum, Clinton, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Katy Perry, I've, Baum, Kendall Jenner's, SBF, Elizabeth Ashford, Kives, Dietrich Knauth, Alexia Garamfalvi, Matthew Lewis Organizations: YORK, K5 Global, Democratic, Republican, U.S . Securities, Exchange Commission, K5, Genesis Global Capital, Wednesday, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Thomson Locations: Wilmington , Delaware, Democratic U.S, New York, Republican California, FTX

☆ Meet GoDigital, the happiness-obsessed company that wants to buy Vice Media
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-16 | by ( Alex Sherman | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +8 min

Vice Media Group logo Pavlo Gonchar | Lightrocket | Getty ImagesWhen Suroosh Alvi, Gavin McInnes and Shane Smith founded Vice magazine, which later expanded to Vice Media, they built a business based on a punk rock, counterculture image. GoDigital Media Group is a privately held conglomerate that owns video and music rights, especially in the Latin genre, and an array of different businesses. GoDigital plans to bid for Vice on Tuesday at a price between $300 million and $400 million, according to people familiar with the company's thinking. He will preach that message to Vice's employees on Day One if GoDigital acquires the company, he said. Smith, Vice's executive chairman and former CEO, couldn't be reached for comment.

Persons: Pavlo Gonchar, Suroosh Alvi, Gavin McInnes, Shane Smith, Smith, Jason Peterson, Logan Mulvey, GoDigital, Jason DeRulo, Peterson, Berkshire Hathaway, what's, Mulvey, John Leguizamo, Craig Greiwe, Sean, Diddy, Combs, couldn't, haven't, ' Peterson, Alex Wallace, Wallace, Gay Hendricks, We're, Adam Neumann's, I'm Organizations: Media, Lightrocket, Vice Media, GoDigital Media, Berkshire, Eastern Mountain Sports, NGL, Fortress Investment, Soros Fund Management, Monroe Capital, Fortress, Yahoo, CNBC Locations: Brooklyn , New York, Los Angeles

Neither Azour nor Hezbollah-backed candidate Suleiman Frangieh came close to winning the 86 votes needed to win in a first round vote. Azour, the IMF's Middle East Director and an ex-finance minister, won the support of 59 of 128 lawmakers. Hezbollah and its allies then withdrew from the session, denying the two-thirds quorum required for a second vote in which 65 votes are enough for victory. Azour thanked lawmakers who backed him, saying he hoped the will expressed by "the majority of deputies" would be respected. George Adwan, a Christian lawmaker with the anti-Hezbollah Lebanese Forces party, said the vote was "a major victory" because it showed Azour close to 65 votes.

Persons: Gebran Bassil, Azour, Suleiman Frangieh, Frangieh, Nabih Berri, Michel Aoun, Hussein al, Haj Hassan, Bashar al, Assad, George Adwan, Mohamed Azakir, Matthew Miller, Miller, Mohanad Hage Ali, Riad Salameh, Sheikh Ahmad Qabalan dialled, Issam Abdallah, Simon Lewis, Tom Perry, John Stonestreet, Mark Heinrich, William Maclean Organizations: BEIRUT, Hezbollah, IMF, Maronite, Hezbollah Lebanese Forces, REUTERS, U.S . State Department, Carnegie Middle East Center, West, Thomson Locations: Lebanon, Iran, Muslim, Saudi Arabia, Lebanese, Yemen, Beirut, Washington, U.S, United States, Israel, Damascus

☆ Not Your Dad’s Dad Food
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-13 | by ( J. J. Goode | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Every year, as Father’s Day approaches and the gift guides suggesting $300 supercharged charcoal grill lighters and backyard pizza ovens roll in, I’m left wondering if I’m truly dad enough in the kitchen. Yet, dads, avert your eyes: I do not own a Big Green Egg. Blame it on my TikTok algorithm, but so many of the dads I see seem to be reveling in this profligate age of Dad Food, making homemade burger buns and subjecting spice-rubbed animal carcasses to long periods of indirect heat. I had the sense that dads were cooking more than they once did, and this was true — to a point. We have come a long way from the dawn of dad food, when man discovered fire and the “Big Boy Barbecue Book” suggested in 1956 that their occasionally grilling steaks indicated a revolutionary shifting of gender roles: “Wives take it easy.

Persons: I’m, Dad Food, ”

☆ Bakhmut: Wagner forces claim to have taken the eastern Ukrainian city. But Kyiv's forces could still exact a heavy toll
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-22 | by ( Sam Kiley | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

Kyiv rebuffed claims that Russian forces have captured the city in the eastern Donetsk region. LIBKOS/APYevgeny Prigozhin, the chief of the Wagner private military group, pictured in a screengrab from May 20, 2023, insisted that his men captured Bakhmut after months of fighting. A Ukrainian serviceman checks Russian positions in Bakhmut on May 11, 2023. He said regular Russian troops were incompetent cowards. And they’re being flanked to the north and south by Ukrainian troops.

☆ Lebanon’s central bank boss urged to resign after French arrest warrant
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Summary Lebanon's deputy PM says Salameh should quitCentral bank head under investigation for fraudFrench prosecutors issue arrest warrantBEIRUT, May 18 (Reuters) - Lebanese Deputy Prime Minister Saadeh al-Shami called on Thursday for Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh to resign following France’s issuing of an arrest warrant against him as part of a fraud investigation. He plans to appeal against the French warrant, which he told Al-Hadath violated principles of a Lebanese-French agreement without giving more details. A Lebanese judge overseeing a local case against Salameh has rejected his lawyers' defence arguments, clearing the way for a June 15 hearing, a senior judicial source told Reuters. The judicial source told Reuters a new hearing date for Raja Salameh had also been set for June 15. French prosecutors' warrant for Riad Salameh, issued on Tuesday, was the first from any of the foreign probes into him.

☆ In renaming 'HBO Max,' Warner Bros. Discovery hedges its bets in streaming
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-15 | by ( Alex Sherman | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +8 min

Warner Bros. Discovery unveiled its new streaming service Wednesday, featuring a combination of programming from HBO Max and Discovery+. Discovery logo is displayed on a smartphone screen and in the background, the HBO Max and Discovery Plus logos. Those who want HBO already know where to find it, and HBO Max will simply morph into Max on most platforms. Warner Bros.

☆ European investigators to revisit Lebanon in central banker fraud case
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-05 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

BEIRUT, April 5 (Reuters) - European investigators will return to Beirut in April to question two key people who have been charged in Lebanon in a case involving alleged fraud by Lebanese central bank governor Riad Salameh, two sources with direct knowledge of the probe told Reuters. Lebanon and at least five European countries are investigating whether Salameh and his brother Raja Salameh took more than $300 million from the central bank between 2002 and 2015. The three have been charged in Lebanon with embezzlement, illicit enrichment and money laundering in two separate cases but have not been detained. The European investigators are due to arrive in Beirut on April 24. The governor enjoyed strong backing from Lebanese elites in his three decades as central bank chief, during which the central bank financed a state rife with corruption and enforced policies that earned commercial banks massive profits.

☆ IMF: Lebanon in 'very dangerous situation' with reforms stalled
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-23 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

BEIRUT, March 23 (Reuters) - The International Monetary Fund warned on Thursday that Lebanon was in a very dangerous situation a year after it committed to reforms it has failed to implement, and the IMF urged the government to halt borrowing from the central bank. "One would have expected more in terms of implementation and approval of legislation" related to reforms, he said, noting "very slow" progress. "Lebanon is in a very dangerous situation," he added, in unusually frank remarks. Still, Rigo said that the IMF would "never walk away" from helping a member country and there was no deadline for Lebanon to implement the reforms. Rigo said that Lebanon should move towards a market-determined exchange rate, rather than maintaining multiple rates including the central bank's Sayrafa exchange rate, which is not set by market forces.

☆ Lebanese security forces fire tear gas at crowds protesting pound devaluation
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-22 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Mohamed AzakirBEIRUT, March 22 (Reuters) - Lebanese security forces on Wednesday fired tear gas at hundreds of protesters, mostly retired members of the security forces, who had gathered near government buildings in Beirut in anger at deteriorating economic conditions. Crowds gathered in the streets of downtown Beirut between parliament and the government serail, carrying Lebanon's tricolour or flags bearing the logos of security forces. They were outraged at the deteriorating value of state pensions paid in the local currency. One soldier was seen treating a young boy who was affected by the tear gas. "He's suffering just like me," he told Reuters, clutching two of the tear gas canisters fired just moments earlier.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis hasn’t announced a presidential bid yet, but that hasn’t stopped him from receiving his first congressional endorsement. The endorsement comes weeks after Roy, among others, attended a Florida donor confab held for DeSantis. The focus of that event was how to replicate DeSantis’ Florida wins nationwide—but the clear subtext was the looming presidential race and the expectation that DeSantis could parlay his consistently high polling position into an official presidential run. (DeSantis himself was a founding member of the Freedom Caucus when he served in the House.) South Carolina Rep. Ralph Norman, another HFC member, threw his support behind former South Carolina Gov.

☆ Lebanon says it regains UN voting rights after paying dues
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-07 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

BEIRUT, March 7 (Reuters) - Lebanon has regained U.N. voting rights after paying dues for 2022 and 2023, the foreign ministry said on Tuesday, after the country, which is in deep financial crisis, lost its rights at the world body for the second time in three years. Guterres said Lebanon needed to pay a minimum of some $1.8 million to regain its vote. A foreign ministry statement did not say how much Lebanon had paid. "Lebanon has returned to play its natural role ... in the work and discussions of the United Nations and its specialised committees", it said. Lebanon has been in deep crisis since 2019 when its financial system collapsed as a result of decades of profligate spending, mismanagement and corruption by ruling elites.

☆ Lebanon devalues official exchange rate by 90%
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

BEIRUT, Feb 1 (Reuters) - Lebanon adopted a new official exchange rate of 15,000 pounds per U.S. dollar on Wednesday, the central bank said, marking a 90% devaluation from its previous official rate that had been unchanged for 25 years. The shift from the old rate of 1,507 is still far off the parallel market where most trades take place. Two market participants said the pound was changing hands at around 59,000 per dollar on Tuesday. Lebanese officials have described the adoption of the new official exchange rate as a step towards unifying an array of rates that have emerged during the crisis. Analysts expect the shift to have less impact on the wider economy, which is increasingly dollarized and where most trades take place according to the parallel market rate.

BEIRUT, Jan 31 (Reuters) - Lebanon will adopt a new official exchange rate of 15,000 pounds per U.S. dollar on Feb. 1, central bank governor Riad Salameh said, marking a 90% devaluation from its current official rate that has remained unchanged for 25 years. The pound has lost some 97% of its value since it began to split from the 1,507 rate in 2019. In order to ease the impact of this shift, banks would be given five years "to reconstitute the losses due to the devaluation," he said. Several rates remain, including the official rate, the central bank's Sayrafa exchange platform rate which currently stands at 38,000 pounds per U.S. dollar, and the parallel market rate. While capital controls have never been formally imposed in Lebanon, banks since 2019 have imposed their own controls, severely limiting withdrawals in dollars and Lebanese pounds.

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