by al-monitor.com - Adam Lucente -- Lebanese officials devalued their currency on Wednesday amid the ongoing economic crisis. The devaluation is still well below the dollar exchange rate on the street, and multiple rates remain in place in Lebanon. Lebanon’s central bank, Banque Du Liban, lowered the official exchange rate to the US dollar from 1,507 to 15,000 pounds, multiple outlets reported. Bank governor Riad Salameh told Reuters Tuesday that the move constitutes an effort to unify different exchange rates in the country. What it means: The official 1,507 rate for the Lebanese pound was in place from 1997 until now. The rate on the street correlated to the official rate until 2019 when the Lebanese economic crisis began. Since then, the Lebanese pound has lost more than 90% of its value on the parallel street exchange market.

The pound, aka lira, has been falling even more on the street in recent weeks. On Wednesday, one US dollar traded at more than 62,000 pounds. The new official rate therefore does not resemble the rate the public is using, despite the devaluation decision. The official rate and the street rate are two of several dollar-to-lira exchange rates in Lebanon. Banque Du Liban’s Sayrafa rate, which is used for international card payments, ATMs and e-commerce, remains at 38,000 to the dollar, the bank said in a statement Tuesday. There are also separate rates for fuel prices, public sector salaries and other things, according to The Associated Press.

BEIRUT, (Reuters) – Lebanon will adopt a new official exchange rate of 15,000 pounds per U.S. dollar on Feb. 1, central bank …

By Nada Homsi -- .thenationalnews.com -- Two Lebanese MPs charged in connection with the explosion at Beirut port on Monday filed appeals to have the lead investigator dismissed in the latest attempt by those he has charged to stall the probe. MPs Ghazi Zaiter and Ali Hassan Khalil, members of Hezbollah ally the Amal Movement, filed appeals only days after Judge Tarek Bitar resumed his investigation that had been delayed for months by political interference. The resumption led to more judicial paralysis as another judge ordered him to stop and accusations were made by rights groups that officials were obstructing justice. Attorney for the MPs, Samer Hajj, confirmed the latest move and showed The National a copy of the appeals he had filed. “The first appeal I filed was a form on behalf of both MPs requesting the transfer” of the judge leading the investigation, “and the second was a penal complaint against him by Ali Hassan Khalil”, Mr Hajj said. Mr Khalil accused Mr Bitar of “abuse of power and breach of job duties”. "Judge Bitar’s role in the investigation is a violation of his position, provoking sectarian and racial strife,” the complaint stated.

The MP also accused Mr Bitar of “usurping administrative authority" and committing "the crime of impersonating Lebanon's top prosecutor". Mr Bitar last week cited legal residence and unexpectedly resumed his investigation after 13 months and charged multiple high-profile officials in connection with the blast ― including Prosecutor General Ghassan Oueidat, head of General Security Gen Abbas Ibrahim and State Security chief Gen Tony Saliba. The backlash to those charges was immediate, leading to challenges from within the judiciary itself and a legal tug-of-war. Mr Oueidat maintains that the investigation is still suspended and says Mr Bitar is "rebelling against the judiciary". Mr Bitar, however, cited studies that challenge the suspension’s legality. Mr Khalil and Mr Zaiter were charged in December 2020 by the previous judge leading the investigation into the port blast, Fadi Sawan. Both deny wrongdoing and have refused to attend interrogation hearings.

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