Financial analyst Khaled Al-Zantouti told our source that it is necessary to distinguish between taxes as a fiscal policy and the exchange rate as a result of monetary policy; therefore, one cannot simply say that imposing taxes is better or the opposite. That is the first point.
He continued: Secondly, determining the exchange rate depends on quantitative analytical results based on data related to certain economic variables, such as the balance of payments, interest rates, inflation rates, and so on.
Al-Zantouti added: Unfortunately—and I say this honestly—the Central Bank lacks all these tools amid this severe division and under this unprecedented level of consumer spending. So what can the Central Bank do under such circumstances? By God, even if Jerome Powell himself, the Chair of the Federal Reserve, were appointed Governor of the Central Bank of Libya under these conditions, he would flee and shout, saying: “Get your hands off my head!”
He concluded his statement by saying: It would be more appropriate for the House of Representatives to unify the two governments, approve a single, rationalized budget for spending, move away from regionalism and the logic of “my share and your share,” and choose sincere, clean national competence. Only then will we find solutions and the will to reform our economic situation and improve the exchange rate, through a scientific alignment between our monetary, fiscal, and trade policies. Do not demand the impossible from the Central Bank or others amid this fragmentation, corruption, and division.
