Black Market Dollar Trading Forces Lebanese Shops To Close

Dubai- Masaader News

A string of top retail shops in Lebanon announced temporary closures on Thursday after the country’s currency lost five-sixths of its value, triggering sharp price hikes, according to Alarabiya

In a series of posts on social media, the popular stores said they would temporarily halt sales as the Lebanese pound reached more than 9,000 to the dollar on the black market.

Although the currency is officially pegged at 1,507 pounds to the greenback, a shortage of hard currency has seen its street value plummet to record lows since October.

That has left retailers have struggling to price their wares.

“We’d rather shut down than significantly increase our prices and lose your trust,” said the Lebanon franchise of Korean lifestyle brand Mumuso, which is headquartered in China.

MikeSport also closed its doors, saying it did not want to “get involved in the game of buying and selling the dollar” on the black market.