Lebanon - P-Set - 1, 5, 10, 25, 50, 100 and 250 Livres - Foreign Paper Money

1, 5, 10, 25, 50, 100 and 250 Livres, P-Set.

The pound or lira (Arabic: ليرة لبنانية līra Libnāniyya; French: livre libanaise; abbreviation: £L, or LL in Latin, ل.ل. in Arabic, ISO 4217: LBP) is the currency of Lebanon. It was formerly divided into 100 piastres (or qirsh in Arabic) but because of high inflation during the Lebanese Civil War (1975–1990) the use of subunits was discontinued.

The plural form of lira, as used in relation to the currency, is either lirat (ليرات līrāt) or invariant, whilst there were four forms for qirsh: the dual qirshān (قرشان) used with number 2, the plural qurush (قروش) used with numbers 3–10, the accusative singular qirshan (قرشا) used with 11–99, and the genitive singular qirshi (قرش) used with multiples of 100. The number determines which plural form is used. Before World War II, the Arabic spelling of the subdivision was غرش (girsh). All of Lebanon's coins and banknotes are bilingual in Arabic and French.

Since December 1997, the exchange rate has been fixed at £L1,507.5 per USD. However since the 2020 economic crisis in Lebanon exchange at this rate is generally unavailable, and an informal currency market has developed with much higher exchange rates.

Until World War I, the Ottoman lira was the currency used in the area. In 1918, after the fall of the Ottoman Empire, the Egyptian pound was used. Upon gaining control of Syria and Lebanon, the French replaced the Egyptian pound with a new currency for Syria and Lebanon, the Syrian pound, which was linked to the French franc at a value of £S1 = 20 F. Lebanon issued its own coins from 1924 and banknotes from 1925. In 1939, the Lebanese currency was officially separated from that of Syria, though it was still linked to the French franc and remained interchangeable with Syrian money. In 1941, following France's defeat by Nazi Germany, the currency was linked instead to sterling at a rate of £L8.83 = £1 stg. A link to the French franc was restored after the war, but was abandoned in 1949.

Before the third phase of the Lebanese Civil War, US$1 was worth:

• £L3.07 in 1965
• £L3.26 in 1970
• £L2.25 in 1975
• about £L4 in 1981

In 1986 the pound began to fall against the dollar. On 13 June a dollar was worth £L36.50. two weeks later it was worth £L47.

• £L500 in 1987
• £L900 in December 1989

During the Civil War, the value decreased rapidly until 1992, when one US dollar was worth over £L2,500. Subsequently the value increased again, and since December 1997 the official rate has been fixed at £L1,507.50 = US$1.

In August 2019, pressure on the fixed exchange rate with the U.S. dollar started, creating a parallel market rate. The two-rate market is a textbook case of weakening central bank reserves that are not able to defend the official exchange rate. Continuous financial pressures driven by unsustainable sovereign debt, high trade deficit and deposit outflows due to loss of confidence are threatening the peg for the first time since 1992.

As of 3 March 2021, the black market rate in Beirut was £L10,000 = 1 U.S. dollar. By July 2021, it was around £L24,000 to the dollar. On 26 May 2022, the value of the Lebanese pound dropped in the black market to £L35,600 against the U.S. dollar, its lowest value ever, despite the recently held general elections.

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