CBL grants licenses to 52 new FX bureaux – bringing total to 187

‎In accordance with the Central Bank of Libya’s plan to activate the role of Foreign Exchange Bureaux and FX companies, and in follow-up to the previous announcement regarding the granting of a license to practice 135 companies and exchange bureaux.

The Central Bank of Libya announced last Sunday (27 July) the approval by Governor Naji Issa to grant a new final license to 52 Foreign Exchange Bureaux and companies.

This brings the total number to 187 FX companies and bureaux covering all regions of Libya, as well as granting an initial license to practice to 108 FX companies and bureaux. The new FX bureaux will operate in the market under the supervision of the Central Bank of Libya.‎

The announcement by the CBL comes as part of its efforts to fight the FX black-market and defend the FX value of the Libyan dinar.

Last week the dinar dropped below the LD 8 per US dollar threshold causing a wide outcry in anticipation of rising prices and cost of living. The CBL has vowed to bring the rate down and keep it lower with the announcement of a planned series of countermeasures. It has dropped to about LD 7.7/dollar this week.

Libya’s undiversified, consumer, rentier economy
It is unclear if any of the CBL’s policies can keep the FX rate down in the long-term. Libya is fundamentally a consumer rentier state economy dependent on oil exports and global crude oil prices. It has failed over the decades, despite much promise, to reduce its import bill by diversifying its economy and developing local production and industry.

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