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Banque du Liban (BDL) announced on Friday that it extended for a ninth time Circular 161, a measure aimed at narrowing the gap between the parallel market exchange rate and that of the central bank’s Sayrafa rate. The announcement comes after caretaker Finance Minister and former BDL executive Youssef Khalil told Reuters on Wednesday that the country’s official exchange rate would change, starting in November, from the longstanding rate of LL1,507.5 per dollar to LL15,000. This new exchange rate raises doubts over how Circular 161 and other similar measures, which employ a variety of different rates, will be applied in the coming months. Adopted in December, Circular 161 allows banks to sell dollars to depositors at the so-called “Sayrafa” exchange rate as an exception to certain banking restrictions in place, and has been repeatedly renewed by the central bank since.