Libyan Central Bank to begin reunification process

The Central Bank of Libya will soon begin uniting the country’s competing financial institutions.

The bank's governor, Saddek Omar Elkaber, announced the “reunification process” yesterday, adding that the institution hired the US consulting firm Deloitte to help. The result will be one unified central bank in Libya. Elkaber called the news a “national achievement” in a press release.

Libya had two parallel central banks during the civil war, which ended in 2020. One was run by the Tripoli-based and internationally recognized Government of National Accord, and the other by Gen. Khalifa Hifter’s Libyan National Army in the east.

Spokespeople for Deloitte did not immediately respond to Al-Monitor’s request for comment.

The United Nations audited both of Libya’s central banks in 2020 before the end of the war to pave the way for their eventual unification. Deloitte worked with the UN on the audit.

The Tripoli branch of the Central Bank was near financial ruin at the end of the war, which stopped the country’s oil production and exportation, causing more than $150 billion in losses.

Political reunification in general in Libya has stalled recently. A transitional unity government took office in Libya last year with the goal of seeing the country through elections that were scheduled for December 2021. However, the vote was delayed when rival political factions could not agree on a list of candidates, among other issues.