By Sami Zaptia.
London, 18 June 2016:
The Tripoli-based Central Bank of Libya (CBL) reported today that it had received another shipment totalling LD 250 million of newly-printed money from the UK.
The shipment had arrived yesterday by air to Tripoli’s Mitiga airport and was of LD 5 denominations.
The CBL said that the consignment would be distributed to all banks across the country without exception.
It will be recalled that Libya is going through an acute economic and financial crisis with oil exports down to 27 percent of peak 2012 production. The political instability and insecurity has led to a loss of confidence which has led to a cash shortage at banks as the public have chosen to hoard their money at home rather than deposit it into their bank accounts.
The cash crises has led to large crowds and demonstrations outside banks. Both the CBLs, in a marketing drive by commercial banks, have encouraged the expanded use of POS and debit cards in an effort to mitigate the cash-shortage problem.
