The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aguila Saleh, confirmed that the tax was approved in a session he did not attend. He called for its suspension, noting that those now demanding its cancellation are the same ones who approved it. He added that he is not committed to keeping it, and that the decision ultimately belongs to the parliament chamber after consulting specialists.
A correspondence from the Central Bank also revealed that the proposal and implementation of the decision to impose taxes on goods and luxury items originated from the Ministry of Economy under the Government of National Unity, headed by Mohamed al-Hwej. He expressed his rejection of the measures and stressed the need for the ministry to act within its mandate by reviewing what had been referred to it by the parliamentary economic committee.
In response, a number of House of Representatives members held an emergency session yesterday rejecting the tax decision on goods and luxury items. In their statement, they also rejected the mechanism adopted by exchange offices authorized by the Central Bank, expressing surprise at this approach despite the existence of commercial banks that are legally responsible within the banking system for selling foreign currency. They emphasized the need to adopt a unified budget and to subject all expenditures to unified legislative oversight.
