UN: Libyan parties agree on two-month national budget

 

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 two-month 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.