A working group in Libya has called for a Libyan-negotiated solution to address the country's deepening economic crisis, report Xinhua/UNB.
The Economic Working Group held a meeting here on Tuesday for a possible solution, said the UN Support Mission in Libya in a statement after the event. The group urged the Central Bank of Libya to convene a board meeting to unify the exchange rates and address the deteriorating banking crisis. The co-chairs also called for transparent and equitable management of the country's revenues, said the statement.
They voiced support for freezing oil revenues by the state-owned National Oil Corporation "as an exceptional and temporary measure to protect national wealth" until a more durable economic arrangement is negotiated among Libyan parties either on an initial interim basis or via the Libyan Political Dialogue Forum, it said.
Until such an arrangement is achieved, Libyan foreign reserves remain adequate to provide for the critical expenses of the 2021 budget, including wages, subsidies, and public services, the statement said.
Libya is political divided between eastern and western governments, including two branches of the Central Bank of Libya. The country's economy, which mainly depends on oil revenues, has suffered from repeated closures of oil fields and ports by armed conflict and protests.
The UN mission said in November that the commanders of the Petroleum Facilities Guards of the Eastern and Western have agreed to work as one body, as stipulated in the cease-fire agreement signed on Oct. 23 in Geneva.