The Board of Directors of the Central Bank of Libya (CBL) held its first official meeting of 2025 in the eastern city of Derna.
The meeting was held under the chairmanship of the Governor, Naji Issa, and in the presence of his Deputy and all members of the Board.
The CBL reported that the meeting discussed various business items and took some decisions, the most important of which are:
- Initiating a mechanism to start establishing investment funds to improve the business environment and involve the banking and private sector in financing development projects
- The public spending policy for 2024 and its impact on the exchange rate
- The unprecedented increase in demand for foreign exchange
- The agreement to communicate with the relevant authorities to approve a unified budget for 2025 in accordance with a law issued by the House of Representatives and the implementation of reforms in public spending policies and other economic policies
- The adoption of other decisions related to the work and tasks of the bank and its departments
On the sidelines of the meeting, the CBL Board made an inspection tour inside the city of Derna (badly damaged by the 2023 Hurricane Daniel) to find out the latest developments in reconstruction efforts.
Unprecedently, the CBL Governor and Board met with the Director General of the Development and Reconstruction Fund, Belgassem Khalifa Hafter, the son of the very Khalifa Hafter, and his team to see the projects completed by the Fund and planned to be completed.
Comment and Analysis: The symbolism of meeting in Derna
It is important to highlight the very important symbolism of the CBL Board meeting in the Hafter controlled eastern Libya, Tobruk and going on to visit Derna and meet Belgassem Hafter. It sends a very new and different message by the new CBL Board.
The outgoing Sadek El-Kaber held no CBL Board meetings in the east. El-Kaber prevented the meeting of the outgoing Board. Moreover, he failed to turn up for questioning when summoned by parliament, the House of Representatives (HoR) – a now-show that led to his sacking several times and eventually to his ‘‘overthrow’’.
The ability of the new CBL Governor and his Board to safely travel to and meet in eastern Libya occurred only with Hafter’s approval. The meeting with his son confirms this. It sends a message that this new Governor and his Board are indeed deemed as a technocratic Board of Directors rather than the political regime of El-Kaber.
A new technocratic role for the CBL
It hopefully – hopefully – augurs for a new, or return to, a technocratic role for the CBL in proposing and enacting new financial and monetary policies that will guide Libya away from polarised, politicised financial and monetary policy.
