The United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) announced a consensual appointment of the Central Bank of Libya (CBL) acting governor, deputy governor and the Board of Directors.
- The new acting CBL Governor Naji Issa – current Director of Currency and Banking supervision – has 27 years banking experience most of which comes from the apex bank.
- The current Deputy Governor, who hails from the east, will retain his post and a new board will be appointed within 2 weeks.
- The previous CBL Governor, Kabir, fled to Istanbul with crucial passwords after a series of attacks from armed militia in Tripoli.
Last month, Al-Kabir and other senior bank officials fled the country to seek protection from potential attacks, just days after a new leadership team accused them of absconding with crucial passwords.
“Militias are threatening and terrifying bank staff and are sometimes abducting their children and relatives to force them to go to work,” Kabir told The Financial Times via telephone at the time.
The new deal, subject to the eastern House of Representatives approval, is expected to conclude the month-long oil shutdown. Crude exports are expected to resume in the next 14 days according to the export schedule. Libya’s oil output has dropped from 1.2 million barrels per day in July to about 562,000 barrels per day as of 23rd September according to Commodity Insights.
“Following a new round of consultations facilitated by the United Nations Support Mission in Libya regarding the crisis at the Central Bank of Libya, representatives from the House of Representatives and the High Council of State reached a compromise on appointing new leadership for the bank,” the mission said in a statement.
Libya boasts Africa’s largest oil and gas deposits and gets most of its revenue from oil resources with most production mainly in the east. The North African country with 6.8 million people, is still facing hangovers dating back to the 2011 NATO-backed uprising that overthrew the long-term leader Muammar Gaddafi. Since then, the country has been divided between the UN- recognized government based in Tripoli under Dbeibah and the rival eastern administration under Khalifa Haftar.
The Central Bank Crisis
In a series of events that began in early August, the western-based government allegedly attempted to capture control of Libya’s Central bank. The apex bank suspended operations on 18th August following the abduction of the head of Information Technology who was released just a day later.
A week earlier, armed men reportedly besieged the bank in an attempt to force resignation of the governor at the Tripoli headquarters. The presidential council then appointed Muhammad Abdel Salam as the new governor with both the House of Representatives and the High Council of State rejecting the decision.
The crisis escalated forcing the ousted CBL Governor – Kabir to flee the country with crucial passwords prompting severe economic repercussions, especially the oil sector.
