By Mustafa Khalifa.
Ghat, 8 December 2015:
Each time the news spreads in the far south western town of Ghat that there is . . .[restrict]money available at the local branch of the National Commercial Bank, there is something like a stampede by customers desperate for the cash. At the moment, cash arrives just one or twice a month and it is not often enough for the bank’s twenty-two thousand customers
Complaining about the lack of cash, one of them, 24-year old Sherif Mohamed, said he had arrived at six in the morning so he could be assured of being able to withdraw some of his own money.
Management at the bank says that the liquidity problem is partly because of security issues, notably with the road at Obari being cut off because of fighting there, but also because of the bureaucracy in Tripoli which manages to ensure that it takes time to respond to requests from branches in the south for cash.
Because of the cash shortage, locals are having to pay for goods and services by cheque, but according to Essam Saghir, the bank’s deputy manger, local traders and shop owners were taking advantage of the situation, now charging customers an extra ten dinars for every cheque received.
It is not just the lack of cash that is hitting people in Ghat. As throughout the country, there is soaring inflation. The cost of food and other goods in Ghat, all of which have to be driven in from elsewhere, has roughly trebled over the past year.
But as far as local financial auditor Talib Kulkul is concerned, there will be no end to the town’s financial woes until there are again at least weekly deliveries of cash. [/restrict]
