By Libya Herald reporter.
Tunis, 9 November 2017:
The Tripoli-based Central Bank of Libya (CBL) has said that last Thursday’s meeting in Tunis of the economic dialogue group agreed on a financial and economic reform programme for the country.
In a statement published yesterday but dated 5 November – the first working day after the conference took place in Tunis – it stated that those present discussed the reforms that were needed and agreed a programme to proceed with them.
Those attending included PC members Fathi Majbri, who is its finance supremo, and Ahmed Maetig plus CVL governor Saddek Elkaber and the PC’s finance minister. The meeting, organised by the US embassy, was the latest in a series attempting to bring economic stability to Libya that started in London a year ago.
There was tight security around last week’s meeting, called to discuss a devaluation of the dinar and the replacement of subsidies with cash payments. There have been no other announcements till now about it.
However, the Libya Herald has been informed by sources connected to it, that it was not a success and that while it was generally agreed that devaluation and an end to subsidies were necessary, Elkaber refused to agree the former unless authorised by the House of Representatives and that the Presidency Council (PC) first removed subsidies.
According to the same sources, it was the failure of the meeting that triggered Sunday’s fall in the value of the dinar, going past the $9 barrier for the first time in several months.
