By Sami Zaptia.
London, 19 March 2021:
With over 200 outlets under its roof, Tripoli’s largest shopping centre, City Mall, opened on Thursday in the Drebi district of the capital.
As would be expected of such a concern the outlets represented all the different sectors such as clothes, shoes, sportswear, cosmetics, accessories, as well as a food and drink outlets catering for fried chicken, pizzas, kebabs, patisseries and so on.
A vote of confidence in the politics?
The opening coming, so soon after the end of the war on Tripoli last June, the official ceasefire last October and the new unified government sworn in only this month, is a good indicator of travel of the political and economic sentiment in Libya at this moment.
A vote of confidence in the business environment?
While the shopping centre is by no means in the class of those in the Emirates, for example, it sets a new standard for those in Libya. Equally, the commitment by business leaders who have taken the decision to rent an outlet at a relatively high rent to those traditional street-front outlets, indicates some confidence in the future by them.
