The Governor of the Central Bank of Libya (CBL), Al-Siddiq Al-Kabir and his deputy, Ali Al-Hibri held the third meeting of the Steering Committee for the reunification of the CBL.
According to a statement, the meeting came as a conclusion to the workshops that were held from 21-23 April 2022, in Istanbul, Turkey.
On Sunday, the CBL said that the meeting came to follow up on the progress of the teams’ work, and to discuss the next phases of the reunification process.
In December, the CBL announced a plan to end the 7-years of division between the eastern and western banks. It said in a statement that the two officials had met in Tunisia, and agreed on a detailed plan to unite the bank.
They discussed the stages of the unification in accordance with the roadmap proposed by the international accounting firm Deloitte. The international financial audit review for the CBL was completed in July.
“The division complicates access to foreign exchange, impedes monetary reform, and undermines the integrity and oversight of the commercial banks,” the UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) said.
Al-Kabir told Reuters that he believed the first stage of unification could be accomplished by July. Economic divisions have added to Libya’s chaos, and resulted in differing exchange rates, liquidity shortages, and ballooning public debts that further hurt Libya’s battered economy.
In February, Al-Kabir and Al-Hibri met with officials from the US consulting firm Deloitte in Tunisia. They discussed the work of the joint technical committees created by Deloitte, for its financial audit of the CBL. The two officials signed an agreement in January 2021 for Deloitte’s consulting services, in order to support the economic roadmap, and unification of the CBL.