The governor of the Central Bank of Libya has decided to establish a committee to examine the demand for foreign currency following a memorandum from his deputy, Marai Al-Barassi.
The committee, headed by the Director of Banking and Currency Supervision, along with five other members, will oversee the demand for foreign currency from documentary credits, personal purposes cards, and public entity requests, comparing it with the available revenues to achieve a balance in the year-end payment balance.
Additionally, the committee is responsible for approving banks’ requests concerning foreign currency in line with the controls set out in the Central Bank’s publications.
The decision follows the CBL’s announcement last January, revealing that foreign currency usage reached $35.3 billion in 2023, while revenues were 25.4 billion dinars, resulting in a deficit of $9.9 billion.
In early February, the Bank announced the reopening of the foreign currency sale system for commercial and personal purposes following a prolonged suspension that caused a relative collapse in the value of the Libyan dinar against hard currencies.
Although the foreign currency sale system has been operating for nearly a month since its reopening, the exchange rate of foreign currencies in the parallel market has not decreased but continues to rise, reaching approximately 7.25 dinars per dollar on Wednesday morning.
