Thursday, February 17, 2005
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A run on the Lebanese pound?
Roula Khalaf and Kim Ghattas report in the Financial Times that the Lebanese pound could be in trouble:
What's historically intriguing about this is that if memory serves, the Lebanese pound managed to retain its value throughout the 1975-1991 civil war. UPDATE: Daniel Davies points out in the comments that my memory is faulty, and that the Lebanese pound suffered hyperinflation during the civil war. As it turns out, the historical data says we are both correct. The pound did a decent job holding its value in the first stage of the civil war, from 1975 to 1983. After the Israeli incursion, however, hyperinflation did kick in. posted by Dan on 02.17.05 at 10:34 PMComments: You know Dan, you could up the political commentary and lower the news content. We can read the newspapers ourselves, and your opinions are pretty interesting. posted by: honestly speaking on 02.17.05 at 10:34 PM [permalink]I remember a Lebanese friend of mine, back in the late eighties, complaining that his stupid father had left a fortune in Lebanon when they fled the country at the outbreak of the war, and that now his fortune was worthless. In fact in 1975 the Lebanese pound was 2.3 per dollar, by 1987 it had crashed to 250 per dollar. posted by: Kevin de Burxelles on 02.17.05 at 10:34 PM [permalink]Memory absolutely doesn't serve; the Lebanese pound hyperinflated. posted by: dsquared on 02.17.05 at 10:34 PM [permalink]Post a Comment: |
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