The Central Bank of Libya (CBL) briefed local Libyan Arabic-language media outlets today that it has concluded a meeting with major local banks to discuss difficulties facing foreign currency sales for all purposes.
This comes after the long-awaited sale of cash dollars had begun Monday in banks across Libya. Counterintuitively, instead of sending the exchange rate of the US dollar down on the black-market, as the CBL was hoping and counting on, the dollar strengthened yesterday to about LD 7.80 per dollar. The meeting with local banks is seen as a reaction to this strengthening of the US dollar.
The CBL stated that it was agreed at this meeting to inject $300 million into the card system today and to continue the cash sale of dollars, which will proceed at a faster pace today. The number of bank branches will also be increased to include the far south of Libya, such as the city of Ghat.
The CBL further stated that it was agreed to grant banks the authority to make direct transfers to small traders, up to $100,000 every three months, to all countries worldwide, to facilitate imports, effective tomorrow, Wednesday.
An agreement was also reached to expedite the process of opening Letters of Credit and processing related documents, as well as to accelerate the loading of cards and resolve bottlenecks in large reservations, particularly at Aman Bank, Commercial Bank, and some other banks.
It will be recalled that the CBL, in tandem with the government, has activated a series of policy measures to strengthen the Libyan dinar to reduce the cost of living, reduce prices and imported inflation and improve the standard of living of Libyan citizen.
