Dollar Rate in Lebanon Explained: Market, Buy and Sell

Search "dollar rate in Lebanon today" and you get a pair of numbers, not one. Today the market buy rate is 89,400 LBP and the sell rate is 89,700 LBP per US dollar. This guide covers what those numbers mean, where they come from, and why they have barely moved since 2023 after years of chaos.

What "the market rate" means

The market rate, also called the parallel or "black market" rate, is the price at which cash dollars and Lebanese pounds actually change hands. Licensed exchange shops (a sarraf, plural sarrafin), shops, supermarkets and people paying each other in cash all use it. The central bank doesn't decree it. Supply and demand set it, though Banque du Liban (BDL) has strongly influenced it since 2023 by limiting how many pounds are in circulation.

For most of the decades before the crisis there was no gap to talk about. From December 1997 the pound was pegged at 1,507.5 to the dollar, and that was the price everywhere. When the banking crisis broke in 2019, people could no longer get dollars from their banks at the peg, and a separate cash market formed. For the next four years the market rate and the official rate were very different numbers.

Buy vs sell: the spread

Every exchanger quotes two prices:

Quote	Who does what	Which number
Buy	The exchanger buys your dollars and gives you pounds	The lower one (89,400)
Sell	The exchanger sells you dollars for your pounds	The higher one (89,700)

The difference between them is the spread. It is the exchanger's margin, and in a calm market it is usually a few hundred pounds per dollar. When the market is nervous, exchangers widen it to protect themselves.

A simple way to remember it: the quote is always from the exchanger's point of view. If you walk in holding dollars, look at buy. If you walk in holding lira, look at sell.

Worked example: changing $200

Suppose the board shows buy 89,400 and sell 89,700 (example numbers only).

You hand over $200: 200 × 89,400 = 17,880,000 LBP.
If you then changed those pounds straight back, you would need 89,700 LBP for each dollar: 17,880,000 ÷ 89,700 ≈ $199.33.

The round trip costs about 67 cents, which is the spread at work. That is why it pays to change only what you need, and to avoid swapping back and forth.

Worked example: paying a bill in lira

A restaurant bill is 2,700,000 LBP and you only carry dollars. At an example sell rate of 89,700, that bill is worth about $30.10. Many places will take $30 and give change in lira at their own rate, which may be rounded in their favour. If the bill is large, changing at an exchanger first and paying in lira is often slightly cheaper.

Why the market rate differs from the BDL rate

Banque du Liban also publishes an official rate, currently 89,500 LBP per dollar. For years the two were far apart:

On 1 February 2023 the official rate moved from 1,507.5 to 15,000, its first change in 25 years. The market was already far beyond that.
Around 18 March 2023 the market rate hit its worst point, near 111,000 per dollar.
BDL then intervened. By mid-2023 the market had settled around 89,000–89,500.
In December 2023 BDL set its Sayrafa platform rate at 89,500. Since then it has treated 89,500 as the unified official rate, and customs, taxes and many public conversions use it.

So today the official and market rates sit very close together. They are still two different things, though: the official rate is an administrative number used for taxes, fees and accounts, and the market rate is what you actually get for cash. Our guide to the BDL official rate vs the market rate goes through where each one applies.

Why the rate has been so stable since 2023

From mid-2023 onward the market rate stopped swinging. By July 2024 BDL could point to twelve months of stability, and in 2025 and into 2026 it held near 89,500 even through periods of war and political tension. Three things lie behind it:

Fewer pounds in circulation. BDL squeezed the supply of lira, so there was less local currency chasing dollars.
A largely dollarised economy. Many prices, rents and private salaries are now set directly in dollars. The lira is used mainly for public salaries, taxes, fees and small change, so demand for it is narrower.
One reference number. Customs, taxes and the official rate converged on 89,500, which anchored expectations.

"Stable" doesn't mean "fixed." Analysts regularly warn that the calm depends on these conditions holding. A daily check is still worth it, especially before large transactions.

How to read our dollar page

The home page is built so you can see at a glance whether anything changed:

Buy and sell at the top are the market rates described above.
The BDL official rate sits beside them for comparison.
Change vs yesterday shows whether the market moved and in which direction. On most days in recent years it is zero or a few hundred pounds.
The "updated" time tells you when the figure was last confirmed. We check our sources every 30 minutes from 07:00 to 22:00 Beirut time, plus one early check at 06:00. When nothing changes, the time is still refreshed once the price is confirmed again.
The 30-day chart puts today's number in context. A flat line means a calm market; a step means something happened.

The figure on the page is not taken from one website. We compare several independent sources and only publish a value that at least two of them agree on (within 1,000 LBP for the dollar). A sudden jump is held back until it is confirmed. The details are on our methodology page.

What the rate can't tell you

The number on any rate board, including ours, is indicative. The exchanger in front of you may quote a little higher or lower, especially:

late at night, on Sundays or on public holidays, when fewer shops are open;
for large amounts, where you can sometimes negotiate a better rate;
for small, worn or old-series notes, which some exchangers try to discount (see how to exchange money safely in Lebanon).

To check a quote, divide the pounds you're offered by the dollars you're handing over. If the result is much lower than the buy rate shown here, ask why or try another licensed exchanger nearby.

Quick answers

Is the black market rate legal? Changing money at a licensed exchanger at the market rate is legal and normal. The term "black market" survives from the crisis years when the market rate was far from the official one.

Why do apps and sites show slightly different numbers? Each one samples different sources at different times. A difference of a few hundred pounds is normal; a gap of thousands means one of them is stale.

Should I change all my dollars at once? In a stable market there is little to gain from waiting, and every change costs you the spread. Change what you'll spend.