In a televised interview, the Governor of the parallel Central Bank of Libya (CBL) and vice president of the board of directors of the CBL Ali Al-Hibri expressed his optimism about an economic boost that will follow the newly modified exchange rate.
Al-Hibri said that the current exchange rate is not “balanced”, so change has become inevitable, indicating that the exchange rate management in the next stage will witness a major change, and that the Central Bank needs 18 months for the exchange rate to stabilize, afterwards; the economy will stabilize within a year and a half.
Al-Hibri revealed that the sale of the dollar to the public will take place through transfers and bank cards, while cash will be provided in January, as he expects that there will be a surplus in the budget next year.
Speaking about the impact of the new exchange rate on citizens, Al-Hibri stressed that prices will rise relatively, and smuggling of goods will be reduced. He said that any exchange rate in the world after needs a continuous cash flow and verification fee after being modified.
He pointed out that the activation of the family allowance will start from next January, and fuel and medicine subsidies will be maintained, indicating that prices will decrease by 33% in the future, adding that prejudice to fuel subsidies is very dangerous, stressing that the monetary measures of the Central Bank will end the black market activity.
Regarding the reasons for the Central Bank’s decision to modify the exchange rate, Al-Hibri explained that the existence of a large fluctuation in domestic products made the modification of the exchange rate inevitable, and the doors of corruption were closed through the unification of the exchange rate. The exchange rate, and the technical committee will issue a statement clarifying monetary policy every 6 weeks.
Al-Hibri expected the issuance of controls for selling foreign currency from the Central Bank during this week, while the committee will work to monitor black market activity and compare the exchange rate.
After the exchange rate was unified, there would be no allocations to heads of households, adding that 30% of Libyans work in the public sector, the highest rate in the world.
Al-Hibri called for activating bank interest rates, as this step would allow the Central Bank to grant loans to youth.
Al-Hibri pointed out that the Board of Directors of the Central Bank of Libya will be working continuously to assess the exchange rate, and licenses will be granted to establish private exchange companies during the first quarter of next year, while the Central Bank is currently studying the withdrawal of certain categories of cash from the public.
Regarding printing currency in Russia, Al-Hibri stressed that it is a “correct and bold decision,” and it came due to the severe lack of liquidity in Cyrenaica, adding that it was a legal decision.