During the last period, the US dollar price remained stable on the black market and did not jump to high levels against the Libyan dinar (LYD), as it did in previous years, despite the ongoing clashes between rival governments in Tripoli.
The US dollar value ranged between LYD 4.25-4.5 over the last week.
Hostilities on the outskirts of the capital have grown fiercer since 4 April when Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar, commander of the Libyan National Army (LNA), launched his campaign to gain control over the city.
Experts believe the value of the Libyan dinar stabilized due to the continuation of the Tripoli-based Central Bank of Libya (CBL) to offer foreign exchange (FX) in the banks operating in the country that in turn continued to accept the transactions of remittances and requests of traders to open letters of credits.
In addition, most of traders have secured their needs of FX from banks before the outbreak of the war in Tripoli, which they used to import goods to the local market. Thus, the Libyan market has now enough goods and commodities and does not seem affected by the war which finally contributed to the stability of the US dollar on the black market as well.
Since September 2018 when the Presidency Council (PC) imposed a 183% fee on foreign currency transactions at the banks, this led to the US dollar losing some value in the informal market, before regaining some value again during the previous internal militia clashes in Tripoli.
Observers expect no rise in the price of US dollar on the informal market as long as the central bank can cover transactions of individuals and companies.
Since 2011, insecurity and shortages have been part of the daily lives of Libyans. Economic reforms launched last year were supposed to tackle a chronic lack of liquidity, but have been hit by the flare-up.
