Libya’s es-Sider and Zueitina oil terminals were closed on Wednesday due to bad weather, the National Oil Corporation (NOC) media office said.
If bad weather persists for another 72 hours, terminals in the regions of Ras Lanuf and Brega could also be affected, possibly risking production levels because of limited storage capacity, the media office said.
The United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) has applauded the Board of Directors of the Central Bank of Libya for the decision taken in this morning’s long-awaited meeting to unify the exchange rate.
UNSMIL said in a statement that this CBL decision is an important and much needed step towards alleviating the suffering of the Libyan people and a good sign that this vital sovereign institution is moving towards unification.
The Acting Special Representative of the Secretary-General Stephanie Williams stressed that “Now is the moment for all Libyans — particularly the country’s political actors — to demonstrate similar courage, determination and leadership to put aside their personal interests and overcome their differences for the sake of the Libyan people in order to restore the country’s sovereignty and the democratic legitimacy of its institutions.”
During “Flusna”, a TV program broadcasted on WTV channel and Tabadul Platform, the legal expert Taha Baara has advocated the need for ensuring the local governance, stressing that Libya is being led randomly.
The expert expected that very courageous decision would be made to solve the issue of the exchange rate as well as many other financial problems.
He also called on the Ministry of Finance to enact the collection of revenues that should enter funds to the State.
The Central Bank of Libya (CBL) held Wednesday its first board meeting for the year 2020 in order to discuss wide-ranging ramifications, including on the citizens’ purchasing power and the creation of a single exchange rate across Libya
The Central Bank of Libya board agreed on to a new unified exchange rate across the country of 4.48 dinars to the U.S. dollar, which will to be effective as of January 03, 2021.
The board was holding a full meeting for the first time in five years after it divided following the wider split in the country between warring western and eastern factions, which also led to different exchange rates in different parts of Libya.
Mohamed al-Safi, Researcher and Analyst at The World Bank, said during a televised interview for Libyan WTV channel and Tabadul Platform that there is a huge lack of responsibility and inspection both within the government itself as well as between the government and the Libyan people.
“If we properly implement the Acts we have today, we will reach equality in the best possible way,” he said.
” The problem does not lie in the people, but in the system. In fact, the government does not consider itself responsible for addressing the people who do not represent a threat as they are not the source of state income,” he added.
According to the analyst, the supervision and the connection between the authorities are both absent as the state institutions do not have the ability to deal with each other.
“ Inequality is one of the reasons why we are warring,” Al-Safi pointed out.
Acting Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Libya Stephanie Williams convened Monday in Geneva a technical meeting on critical reforms of the Libyan economy.
The meeting, co-presided by Egypt, the United States, and the European Union, as co-chairs of the Economic Working Group on Libya of the Berlin Process, and attended by the World Bank, brings together representatives of both branches of the Central Bank of Libya, of the Ministry of Finance, Audit Bureau, and of the National Oil Corporation (NOC), as well as members of the Libyan Experts Economic Commission, to discuss currency reform, the banking crisis, the unification of the national budget, including a time table to implement these reforms.
On Sunday, the Deputy Prime Minister of the Libyan Government of National Accord (GNA), Ahmed Maiteeq, met with the Ambassador of Spain to Libya, Javier Larache.
During the meeting, the Spanish ambassador emphasized the depth of Libyan-Spanish relations, and the desire of Spanish companies to resume their work in Libya following the resumption of his country’s embassy in Tripoli at the beginning of next year.
For his part, Maiteeq affirmed the Government of National Accord’s keenness to work on strengthening relations with the Kingdom of Spain in many fields.
Libya’s Tripoli Interior Ministry announced Monday that the oil tanker Anwar Africa arrived at the port of Tripoli, carrying 35,000 million liters of petrol and is prepared to enter the distribution area at the port.
The Ministry went on to reassure citizens of the availability of both petrol and diesel, calling on them not to listen to rumours spread regarding fuel shortages in the coming period.
The state lawsuits administration of the Libyan Supreme Judiciary Council said that the litigation committee tackling lawsuits abroad managed to unfreeze state assets from Italian companies at several Italian banks, bringing home 113 million euros that were the debt and the interests of the litigation case of the International Chamber of Commerce in Paris issued in 1987 and was recognized by Rome in 2010.
According to the administration, the money was unfrozen from Sacco, Kova, Conicos firms at Unicredit, ABC and CBA banks in Italy.
On November 19, Rome Tribunal annulled the seizure made by the firms against Libyan assets of the Libyan embassy and consulate in Rome at Ubi and BNL banks as those accounts had judicial immunity.
The administration indicated that the Libyan money increased as those firms were seizing the state assets in different banks and thus the interests increased because of such a behavior by the firms.
It also added that the debts should be paid by Libyan authorities so the state assets cannot be seized and all Libyan embassies abroad shouldn’t use their bank accounts in transactions that don’t relate to their missions’ work so they can avoid being seized by parties demanding debts from Libya.
During a televised interview for Libyan WTV channel and Tabadul Platform, the Libyan financial analyst Idris Al-Sherif discussed the effects of changing the exchange rate, pointing out that the rate set by the technical committee at LYD 4.45 is really high.
“There is an abnormal demand for the foreign exchange rate in Libya, which is linked to the political and economic situation in the country, as well as the lack of confidence with regard to the stability of economic policies and finance. However, the Central Bank of Libya (CBL) cannot meet all these requirements,” said Al-Sherif.
The expert also expressed his optimism about the CBL’s board meeting that will take place next Thursday for the first time in six years to discuss fixing exchange rates of the Libyan dinar to foreign currencies.
“We hope that the meeting will bring economic relief and real improvement in people’s standard of living,” he stressed.