Tripoli, 14 April 2013:
The governor of the Central Bank . . .[restrict]of Libya (CBL), Saddek Elkaber, has confirmed that Libya has made a deposit of $2 billion with the Central Bank of Egypt.
Elkaber told Reuters news agency that the money was a deposit rather than a loan.
The CBL funds will help shore up Egypt’s ailing economy. Elkaber compared the move to the EU helping Greece, saying: “Egyptian stability is important for Libya.”
There has been much speculation recently about the transfer, which was not officially confirmed until today. This has been fuelled by the timing of the loan coinciding with the arrest and extradition of senior members of the old regime from Egypt.
Prime Minister Ali Zeidan said that there was no loan to Egypt, but said CBL “was free to make deposits where it chose.” [/restrict]
