Libya.. Split Central Bank Holds Rare Meeting

The board of the Central Bank of Libya, who has western and eastern branches split for years between the country’s warring rivals, said it held a first meeting in years on Monday.

CBL said in a statement that it had held a preliminary meeting to discuss the reactivation of the board’s work including ensuring stability of prices, supporting the integrity of the banking system and adjusting the exchange rate.

Since the country had slipped into a tough war in 2014, different exchange rates for the Libyan Dinar have been recorded in east and west, aggravating its economic problems.

Recently also, the bank has also been involved in a public dispute with National Oil Corporation (NOC) over the payment of energy revenue, where warring sided have accused each other of inaccurately reporting oil revenues and NOC has said it will temporarily stop transfers of sales income to the bank’s account, holding them instead in the Libyan Foreign Bank.

Last week, a U.N.-led economic working group urged a CBL board meeting and said it supported the NOC in freezing oil revenues “under apolitical management as an exceptional and temporary measure” until a long-term deal was agreed.