The Central Bank of Libya reported that the House of Representatives and the Supreme Council of State have agreed to adopt the country’s first unified budget in more than thirteen years.
The oil state has been sharply divided since the civil war that broke out in 2014, which led to the emergence of two competing governments, one in the western region and the other in the eastern region. It is noteworthy that the last unified national budget agreed upon was in 2013.
The Central Bank indicated that the approval of this budget by the two competing legislative bodies would contribute to supporting financial stability and represent an important step towards putting an end to years of financial division.
It should be noted that the two legislative bodies are: the House of Representatives, based in the east, which was elected in 2014, and the Supreme Council of State, based in the west, which was established “in the framework of a political agreement concluded in 2015 and whose members were chosen from a parliament elected in 2012.”
The budget approval agreement was signed by Issa Al-Araibi, representative of the House of Representatives, which is based in Benghazi, and Abdul-Jalil Al-Shawish, representative of the Supreme Council of State in Tripoli, where the internationally recognized government of national unity is based.
Naji Issa, Governor of the Central Bank, who supervised the signing ceremony at the bank’s headquarters in Tripoli, stated that this is “a clear declaration that Libya is able to overcome its differences when it comes together with a unified vision for its future.”
