The Chambers of Commerce, Industry, and Agriculture in the (central, western, and southern) regions, the Business Owners Council (LBC), the Libyan Council of Businessmen (Misrata NGO), and the Libyan Industry Union (LIU) today called upon companies, merchants, and businessmen to hold a protest against the monetary policies of the Central Bank of Libya leading to a high exchange rate of the US dollar and the unfairness in distributing import credits (Letters of Credit – LCs) equally to manufacturing and supplying companies.
The move has been spearheaded by the Misrata Chamber of Commerce, the city where Tripoli based Libyan PM, Abd Alhamid Aldabaiba, hails from.
The protest is also against the decisions of the Ministry of Economy and Trade, which monopolizes the import and export of some goods by certain companies, as well as what they referred to as its ill-considered decisions regarding the import of medicines and medical equipment.
The call for a demonstration follows several meetings by the various chambers of commerce including one last Tuesday (5 March) at a leading hotel in Tripoli. This included chambers of commerce, industry and agriculture from Misrata, Sirte, Zliten, Al-Marqab, Al-Jabal Al-Gharbi, Zintan, Murzuq, Sebha, Ajdabiya, and the Western Region and Derna. In addition to the members of the Tripoli Chamber, members of the Al-Jafara Chamber, the Business Owners Council (LBC), the Libyan Industry Union (LIU), accompanied by a group of companies that manufacture and supply all goods from all over Libya.
The meeting discussed the monetary policies followed by the Central Bank of Libya (CBL) and the unfair distribution in granting documentary credits to companies supplying all goods and commodities inside Libya and restricting them to specific goods and specific companies and not others.
It will be recalled that the CBL has restricted the opening of LC’s to, mainly essentials and food stuffs as it says the Tripoli government has overspent. The implication is that it has run out of hard currency. This has led to a spike in the black-market value of hard currencies.
The owners of the companies expressed their discomfort regarding these policies taken by the Central Bank, and that opening credits at the official exchange rate is a legitimate right for them, just like their counterparts from other companies. Leaving certain goods to the national market will cause prices to rise, which will burden the livelihood of ordinary citizens, they explained.
The Chambers of Commerce have sent preparing memorandums in this regard to address the relevant competent authorities to resolve this crisis experienced by the owners of companies that supply and manufacture goods.
It was agreed to form a higher committee of chambers and businessmen attending the meeting to follow up on the crisis with the CBL and relevant authorities.
Tripoli Chamber of Commerce expresses dissatisfaction with CBL’s LC policy (libyaherald.com)
Concealed spat between Tripoli PM and Central Bank Governor goes public (libyaherald.com)
