BEIRUT, June 12 (Xinhua) — The Central Bank of Lebanon will inject U.S. dollars into the licensed exchange market in order to meet needs of ordinary citizens and importers, the National News Agency reported on Friday. The announcement was made by Vice President of the Syndicate of Money Changers in Lebanon Mahmoud Halawi following an emergency cabinet meeting to discuss the latest developments in the country and the steep hike in U.S. dollar to the Lebanese pound. The Lebanese pound saw an unprecedented decline on Thursday to the dollar which led to nationwide protests. Halawi said money changers will be disciplined in selling the dollar, and they will commit to selling it at a price of 3,940 pounds. “We appeal to citizens to deal with licensed money changers,” Halawi said while urging citizens to stop going to the black market which will lead to the smuggling of the dollar from the country. Lebanon has witnessed in the past few months a shortage in the U.S. dollars caused by economic slowdown and the drop in cash injections from Lebanese abroad, in addition to transfers by big depositors to foreign countries, reducing the central bank’s foreign currency reserves and leading to a shortage in dollar for businesses and individuals. Hence, banks put restrictions on cash withdrawals by people and their transfers from Lebanese pounds to U.S. dollars creating panic among depositors. This has caused demand on the U.S. currency to increase, leading to an increase in its price to the Lebanese pound. Enditem