Central Bank of Libya imposes fees on selling foreign currency

The Central Bank of Libya (CBL) agreed in a meeting Saturday to charge fees on foreign currency transactions in the country in an attempt to narrow the gap between the official rates of foreign currency and those on black market. 

The step was announced by the CBL Governor Al-Sediq Al-Kabir when he met with the deputy head for economic file of the Presidential Council of the Government of National Accord (GNA) Fathi Al-Mijibri and other officials.

The officials agreed on the fees factor as part of a three-track economic reform steps to be put into an immediate effect in Libya.

The other two tracks include tackling subsidies and finding a way to mitigate the effects following the reforms on the Libyan people, which could include compensation packages of some sort, according to the officials.

These new measures come as a result of an agreement made at the eighth meeting of the Libyan Economic Dialogue held last Tuesday in Tunisia, where officials including Al-Kabir and Al-Mijibri, agreed to implement the reforms in no time to save the ailing Libyan economy.