Beirut - (AFP) - The Lebanese pound recorded its lowest levels against the dollar in the parallel market, at a time when the country's political crisis is deepening, which prevents any reforms capable of pulling it out of the chronic economic collapse.

The exchange rate touched the threshold of 40,000 pounds against the dollar on Monday, according to applications and money changers, at the lowest level since the start of the economic collapse that Lebanon has been witnessing for three years, and the World Bank ranks it among the worst in the world.

Since the summer of 2019, the lira has lost nearly 95 percent of its value against the dollar, while the official exchange rate is still fixed at 1,507 pounds.

This coincides with an acute liquidity crisis, and banks stopped providing depositors with their money in dollars.

Banks and money transfer companies adopt different exchange rates.

The prolonged economic crisis is considered the worst in Lebanon's history.

And it is accompanied by political paralysis that prevents taking reform steps that limit the deterioration and improve the quality of life of the population, more than eighty percent of whom live below the poverty line.

The authorities have not yet succeeded in implementing reforms required by the international community to provide support in order to stop the bleeding.

The fund announced in April that it had reached a preliminary agreement with Lebanon on a $3 billion aid plan over four years.

However, its application is also linked to the government's commitment to prior reforms, including the unification of exchange rates.

This comes amid an acute political crisis, as the Lebanese parliament failed twice in a row to elect a new president for the country in light of deep divisions reflected by the lack of consensus among the political forces over the name of a successor to the current president, Michel Aoun, whose term of office expires at the end of this month.

Because of the same divisions that prevent consensus on a president for the country, the efforts of Prime Minister-designate Najib Mikati to form a government have not borne fruit since the parliamentary elections that took place in mid-May.

The international community is pressing for the election of a new president within the constitutional deadlines to avoid deepening the economic crisis.