This paper investigates the ongoing Libya conflict through the Enduring Disorder paradigm, focusing on the financial and banking sectors, honing in on stakeholder perceptions of the Central Bank of Libya (CBL), its transparency/opacity, and the “narrative wars” over who is to blame for, and who benefits from, Libya’s economic dysfunction, the lack of an annual budget, and the current lack of a quorum on the CBL board.
By Reuters Staff
3 Min Read
TRIPOLI/BENGHAZI, Libya (Reuters) - Libya’s currency adjustment last month has helped ease a liquidity crisis across the country but the continued scarcity of cash dollars means the black market still thrives.
FILE PHOTO: A bank teller counts the money with a currency counting machine at a bank in Misrata, Libya January 17, 2021. Picture taken January 17, 2021. REUTERS/Ayman Al-Sahili
Libya has been split since 2014 between warring western and eastern administrations with rival factions seizing control of key economic institutions.
As the eastern banking system was cut off from the Central Bank of Libya (CBL) in Tripoli, different black market exchange rates emerged across front lines, both very different to the official rate, and making dollars unaffordable to most Libyans.