OFWs from Lebanon can now convert Lebanese currency to pesos

Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) who have returned from Lebanon may exchange their Lebanese currency for Philippine pesos up to Sept. 11, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) announced yesterday.

On the other hand, OFWs who have yet to arrive from the Middle Eastern country have seven days from the date of their arrival to convert their currency.

This is in line with the opening of a currency exchange facility (CEF) approved by the Monetary Board of the BSP as a service to OFWs who had been displaced by the Israel-Hezbollah conflict. Prior to this, Lebanese banknotes are not convertible to pesos.

Under the CEF guidelines issued as Memorandum Circular No. M-2006—016 which take effect Sept. 1, each OFW returning from Lebanon will be allowed to exchange with the BSP or with authorized agent banks (AABs), up to a maximum of 300,000 Lebanese Livres for Philippine pesos.

OFWs shall present documentary proof of their travel from Lebanon such as passport or valid travel papers — issued and signed by the Philippine Embassy, stamped with the date of the OFW’s arrival in the Philippines.

The BSP shall set the exchange rate at which it will buy Lebanese Livres from OFWs and AABs that purchased said currencies under the CEF.

The rate shall be posted daily in the BSP Reference Exchange Rate Bulletin. AABs, particularly those with branch offices at the airports, may extend banking hours, as needed, to service currency conversion requirements of returning OFWs.

The CEF was established during similar emergency situations in the Middle East. The first such facility was in the 1990s during the Kuwait-Iraq war and the second in 2003 in connection with the US-Iraq conflict.