The Governor of the Central Bank of Libya (CBL) Al-Saddiq Al-Kabir and his Deputy, Ali Al-Hibri, agreed on Monday to start the unification of the CBL, reiterating commitment to achieving the targeted goals of unification, seven years after they divided as conflict tore the country apart.
Al-Kabir and Al-Hibri met in Tunisia, in the presence of US Auditing firm Deloitte, to agree on a detailed plan to start the process of unification of the CBL, in a step described by the CBL on the Twitter ad “the most important process to unify the bank.”
The original bank, which manages the North African state’s vast oil revenues, had been severed in 2014 when a complex civil war gave rise to rival administrations in the east and west.
But on Monday, the governor of the internationally recognized body in the western capital Tripoli, Seddik al-Kabir, and his eastern-based counterpart Ali al-Hebri “agreed on a detailed plan to launch the unification process”, the Tripoli body said in a statement.
The CBL said the process would be as per the roadmap proposed by the auditing firm Deloitte when it reviewed the CBL accounts last July when an agreement was made about tracks of the unification process.
The existence of two central banks has complicated the handling of Libya’s vital oil revenues and control over monetary policy, contributing to runaway inflation and a liquidity crisis despite its vast crude reserves.
But a ceasefire in mid-2020 allowed for reunification efforts to begin, and even before the truce was formalized, Deloitte International was charged with auditing the institutions.
United Nations envoy Jan Kubic delivered the completed audit report to interim Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dbeibah in July this year.
The division has caused major financial losses and a spike in public debt to more than $100 billion, according to the bank.
The reunification deal comes before Libya is set to hold elections on December 24 aimed at moving past the decade of violence.