The Central Bank of Libya (CBL) asked banks to implement the Speaker of the House of Representatives’ Resolution No. 15 of 2024 regarding temporarily imposing a tax on the foreign currency exchange rate.
This came in a letter from the Deputy Director of the Banking and Monetary Control Department for Office Supervision Affairs, to the general directors of the banks.
The letter stressed facilitating the procedures for dealing in foreign exchange, including opening letters of credit for all purposes, goods, services, and personal transactions in accordance with the instructions issued by the Central Bank of Libya, with submitting an acknowledgment paper in which the clients pledge their acceptance of the price plus the tax.
Last Thursday, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aqila Saleh, issued a decision to impose a 27% tax on the official exchange rate of foreign currencies. This came after the Governor of the Central Bank of Libya, Al-Siddiq Al-Kabir, had proposed adjusting the exchange rate of the Libyan dinar against foreign currencies, and imposing a 27% tax on foreign exchange, expecting the exchange rate to range between 5.95 and 6.15 dinars per dollar.
The decision was met with a wave of popular and official rejections, as a number of members of the House of Representatives, led by Deputy Speaker Fawzi Al-Nuwairi, announced their rejection of the decision, stressing that it had not been presented to them, while others indicated that the decision was illegitimate, and ir was not issued in accordance with the approved legal mechanism.
Libyan Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah stressed the rejection of imposing a tax on the exchange rate, warning of the negative effects of the tax on Libyans.
