The United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) on Monday said Libyan parties have agreed on a two-month unified national budget.
“This week, two important decisions were taken that will positively affect the economy and create momentum towards unifying the national financial
institutions. On 3 February 2021, the Council of Ministers promulgated a twomonth interim budget for 2021. This is the first time since 2014, Libya has one unified national budget,” UNSMIL said in a statement.
“Agreement on the budget was reached through the good offices of the
United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL), with the support of
international financial institutions and the Economic Working Group of the
Berlin Process, as they brought together relevant parties from both sides of
the country to work out an agreement,” the statement added.
The unification of the budget followed a decision by the Board of Directors of the Central Bank of Libya (CBL) on Feb. 1 to allocate a no-interest loan to
Libyan commercial banks in order to reduce the backlog in uncleared checks.
That will not address the underlying cause of what is known as the credit
crunch but will reduce pressure on the banking system.
According to UNSMIL, these reforms, in addition to the recent unification of
exchange rates of the national currency against the U.S. dollar, the reactivation of the CBL Board, and progress made in the financial review of
the CBL and the Libyan Investment Authority, are all vital components of
reforms needed to regularize the management of Libyan oil revenue.
The mission expressed hope that with a “newly unified executive recommitted to working for the country’s national interests and restoring its sovereignty, Libya would be able to move closer to an equitable management of its oil resources for the benefit of all Libyan people.”
On Friday, members of the Libyan Political Dialogue Forum (LPDF) voted in a new prime minister and a new presidency council during a voting session in Geneva.
