In an important statement published on its page, the Central Bank of Libya revealed that foreign exchange sales executed between March 1 and March 17, 2025, amounted to approximately $1.1 billion for personal purposes and $1.2 billion for documentary credits, bringing total sales to $2.3 billion. Meanwhile, oil revenues deposited into the Central Bank during the same period amounted to only $778.0 million. The bank emphasized that it is facing significant challenges due to declining public revenues caused by reduced oil revenues and delays in their collection, which increase pressure on foreign reserves. Additionally, the continued rise in dual government spending increases demand for foreign currency, threatening financial sustainability and posing challenges to the bank\u2019s efforts to maintain economic stability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Our banking source revealed that, apart from the decline in revenues flowing into the Central Bank, another issue is the rising demand for foreign exchange. This is due to pressure on the foreign exchange sale system, as individuals log in from multiple devices simultaneously under one identity, enabling reservations worth millions within a short period. This negatively affects the system\u2019s performance and the reservation process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The head of the Accounting Department at the Libyan Academy, Dr. Abu Bakr Abu Al-Qasim, commented to our source, saying: \u201cDo not leave the Central Bank alone.\u201d He added that the weekly and monthly reports of the Central Bank serve as warning messages to all Libyans. It is as if the bank is telling us: The Central Bank is still standing alone against reckless governments with inflated and uncontrolled spending and against the National Oil Corporation, which operates unchecked, controlling oil revenue flows without oversight or accountability, in clear violation of the laws and regulations governing the state’s public finances.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n He continued: It is also fighting against speculators leading this war against the dinar. Today, it is necessary for everyone, without exception\u2014whether elite or ordinary citizens\u2014to stand firmly with the Central Bank of Libya\u2019s management in its battle to defend the strength of the struggling dinar.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Former member of the Central Bank\u2019s Exchange Rate Committee, Musbah Al-Akari, stated on his official Facebook page: Since the arrival of the new administration at the Central Bank, it has been making great efforts to restore some strength to the Libyan dinar against foreign currencies. Despite some victories, it has found itself in a real battle alone, without support\u2014even from the citizens themselves.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n He added: The Central Bank found itself between two governments, each claiming sole legitimacy and authority over expenditures. One government spends here, the other spends there, and everyone knows that increased spending means injecting new money into the market, leading to increased demand for foreign currencies.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Al-Akari further explained: Despite the Central Bank spending $7 billion\u2014equivalent to 40 billion Libyan dinars\u2014in three months, the exchange rate continues to rise.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n He pointed out another issue: Citizens rushing to banks with cash to request personal-purpose cards, which they then use for activities other than what the Central Bank intended\u2014essentially speculating on their own currency without any national concern for the consequences. They themselves will ultimately suffer from the rising prices.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Al-Akari proposed solutions rather than further complicating the crisis, stating:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Economist Anas Shneibish also provided a set of solutions in a statement to our source:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Economic expert Abdul Hamid Al-Fadhil told our source: “Where is this massive amount of dinars coming from to demand such unprecedented levels of foreign currency for the fourth consecutive month?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n From last December until March 12, total foreign currency usage amounted to approximately $11.5 billion, which translates to around 65 billion dinars requested in foreign exchange.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I cannot find an explanation for this unprecedented and alarming demand, except for parallel spending of extremely large sums by the parliament-appointed government, which may be sourced from (the use of commercial bank deposits + printing currency)!”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Thus, disclosing the amounts spent by the Hamad government and their sources of funding, as well as unifying public spending, has become a matter of utmost urgency that cannot be delayed.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Economic expert Saber Al-Wahsh told our source: “Uncontrolled spending has pushed the demand for foreign currency to $2.3 billion, while revenues stood at just $778 million, resulting in a deficit of $4 billion in just two and a half months.”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n He added: “Based on the latest statement and the Monetary Policy Committee meeting, I believe the central bank will resort to adjusting the exchange rate, thinking it is a solution, but it is merely a temporary fix.”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n He continued: “The correct short-term solution is to unify and regulate public spending, ensure the stability of foreign revenues, and avoid deficit financing under any circumstances\u2014except for salaries.”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In an important statement published on its page, the Central Bank of Libya revealed that foreign exchange sales executed between March 1 and March 17, 2025, amounted to approximately $1.1 billion for personal purposes and $1.2 billion for documentary credits, bringing total sales to $2.3 billion. Meanwhile, oil revenues deposited into the Central Bank during […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":253389,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[124],"tags":[628,613],"class_list":["post-253387","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-reports","tag-central-bank","tag-libya"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sada.ly\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253387","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sada.ly\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sada.ly\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sada.ly\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sada.ly\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=253387"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sada.ly\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253387\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":253391,"href":"https:\/\/sada.ly\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253387\/revisions\/253391"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sada.ly\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/253389"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sada.ly\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=253387"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sada.ly\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=253387"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sada.ly\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=253387"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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Urgent Solutions:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Long-Term Solutions:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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