The Ministry of Economy and Trade stated yesterday (in its Clarification Statement no. 2/2026) that the volume of letters of credit granted recently for the import of transportation equipment, vehicles, batteries, and tyres exceeded US$ 821 million for 154 companies.
The Ministry said this was intended to provide these goods to the local market at the ‘‘subsidized’’ official exchange rate of 6.20 dinars per dollar. However, some of these companies priced their products according to the black-market exchange rate of 10 dinars per dollar, effectively imposing an undeclared tax of up to 60% on consumers, benefiting these companies.
The Ministry of Economy asserted that this imbalance can only be addressed through fiscal policy and microeconomic tools such as competition, transparency, price controls, and tracing the true beneficiary.
Furthermore, it added that the current system for allocating foreign currency contributes to price increases for consumers instead of protecting them, and it creates a limited capitalist class that profits from price differences and indirect subsidies at the expense of most of the society.
The Ministry of Economy said the continuation of this situation means that the cost of the imbalance in economic policies is borne by a certain segment of citizens, while other segments benefit from it, which contradicts the principles of economic justice and consumer protection.
Therefore, the Ministry of Economy affirmed its commitment to working on correcting economic paths, protecting the consumer, and ensuring a fairer and more transparent market, while continuing to complete the files of basic commodities whose prices it has begun to correct.
Part of a wider campaign
It will be recalled that the Libyan authorities are on a campaign to reduce prices and the cost of living, reduce demand for hard currency on the black-market to save finite hard currency reserves and defend the value of the dinar, part of which is to review products and companies receiving LCs and their pricing on the market to the end consumer.
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