Member of the Libyan Parliament, Jibril Ohaida has accused Turkey and the United States of “seeking to keep Governor of the Central Bank of Libya (CBL), Siddiq Al-Kabir, in power.”
In press statements, Ohaida criticized statements made by the UN Security Council, in which they “called for elections without addressing the challenges that hinder the implementation of the elections.”
The MP added: “They called for holding elections only to disregard any path, such as forming a new government or without any explanation of how the elections will be held in Libya.”
“In the shadow of the current chaos, and without the presence of a unified government whose control extends over the entirety of the country, the situation will remain as it is,” he said.
Notably, the Governor of the eastern-based CBL, Ali Al-Hibri expressed his “surprise at stopping the consultations to unify the bank by Governor Al-Kabir.” He confirmed his support to replace the current governor.
This came in press statements to the Fawasel media platform, during his participation in the annual forum for the development of the banking sector in Libya, held in Tunisia. He said: “The consultations to unify the Central Bank were stopped and suspended by a decision by Al-Kabir. We do not know the reasons for this matter and we are surprised.”
Al-Hibri added that he “relied a lot on the steps to unify the Central Bank according to the plan developed by the consulting company, Deloitte, based on the principle of decentralized operation of the bank.” He indicated that this “did not satisfy the governor, so he suspended the consultations.”
He stressed that “power must be distributed to everyone so that the CBL would play its role in serving and stimulating the country’s national economy, and not in serving a region or faction.”
Al-Hibri confirmed his support for the Libyan Parliament and the High Council of State (HCS) in changing the current CBL Governor.
“This would be an application of the principle of peaceful transfer of power. Al-Kabir and I have been in our positions since 2011, and that is a very long time. The adherence to Al-Kabir is now based on a regional point of view because changing the position requires that the governor be from the East, which is rejected by many for regional reasons.”
The Libyan official explained that the “global economic crises have affected the economic situation in Libya. As it is a country that relies primarily on the import of food commodities.”
He noted that the “import rate has now reached about 90%,” confirming that the country’s production capacities are disrupted. He also added that “there is an imbalance in the production structure, hence the high unemployment rate.”