The Governor of the Central Bank of Libya, Al-Siddiq Al-Kabir, said Monday that the bank is unable to cover dollar requests for individual and family allocations.
Al-Kabeer’s statement came days after the Head of the Presidential Council, Fayez al-Sarraj, asked him to urgently reactivate the system of family dollar allocations.
The Central Bank’s response came in a letter addressed to the Al-Sarraj, explaining the reasons for stopping the service that the Central Bank had begun to provide since September 2018.
The bank stressed its inability to cover the demand of $38 billion, in conjunction with the closure of oil exports and the collapse of its prices globally, saying the request of Al-Sarraj could lead to the depletion of the state’s resources and impoverishment of the Libyan people, adding that the step would push the Libyan state to borrow from abroad.
Al-Kabir indicated that the “fuel file” agreed upon by the signatories of the economic reforms was not addressed two years ago.
The Governor of the Central Bank stressed that the measures implemented in accordance with the emergency law are only valid for the reason of declaring the state of emergency, which is only related to measures to confront the Coronavirus pandemic.
Hr responded also by alluding to the deterioration of the dollar exchange rate on the black market, saying it is due to the structural deformation of the Libyan economy, stressing the eligibility of the central management of monetary policy to maintain the general reserve, and demanding the return of the oil production and export to ensure that the flow of foreign exchange to the country.
