The Daily Star BEIRUT: The Lebanese pound fell against the dollar Thursday, trading at around LL7,150 on the black market as government formation efforts took a back seat to the outcome of the hotly contested US presidential election. Black market exchangers were selling the dollar for LL7,200 and buying it for LL7,100. The pound had slightly risen Wednesday, trading at around LL7,000 after President Michel Aoun and Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri reportedly agreed on an 18-member Cabinet of specialists, edging closer toward the formation of a government. In a development linked to the US presidential vote, a widely expected meeting Wednesday between Hariri and Aoun to accelerate the Cabinet formation process did not take place. “Cabinet formation contacts came to a standstill Wednesday as politicians’ attention focused on the results of the US presidential election,” a political source told The Daily Star Wednesday. Hariri was expected to present Aoun with a draft Cabinet lineup, his first since he was designated with the support of 65 MPs to form a new government on Oct. 22. Hariri has since met six times with the president, discussing the size and makeup of the new Cabinet. Lebanon remains without a fully functioning government, after caretaker Prime Minister Hassan Diab’s resignation on Aug. 10 in the aftermath of the Beirut Port explosion.