Libya gets new central bank chief under UN-backed deal

Libya has appointed a new governor for the central bank, under a UN-backed deal to resolve a dispute between the country’s rival administrations that halved oil output.

Tensions and violence have risen since August around the central bank in oil-rich Libya, which is split between a United Nations-recognised government in the west and a rival power in the east.

The tensions prompted governor Seddik al-Kabir to flee the country.

After talks facilitated by the United Nations, the rival administrations on Thursday signed an agreement to name a new central bank governor.

Under that agreement 108 members of the parliament, based in Libya’s east, voted unanimously to appoint Naji Issa as the new bank chief, with Miree al-Barasee as vice-governor, the parliament said in a statement.

It said the new leadership will name a board of directors within 10 days.

The other signatory to the deal is the High Council of State — which acts as a senate — based in the capital Tripoli, in the country’s west, seat of the UN-recognised government led by Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dbeibah.

Libya is struggling to recover from years of conflict after the 2011 NATO-backed uprising that overthrew longtime dictator Moamer Kadhafi.

It remains split between Dbeibah’s administration and the rival authority in the east backed by military strongman Khalifa Haftar.

In a post on social media, Dbeibah said the vote was among “positive steps that corrected the situation at the Central Bank of Libya and worked to create an independent professional institution for all Libyans”.

In early August a group of men, some armed, laid siege to the central bank building demanding the removal of Kabir, who officials close to Dbeibah had criticised over his management of the bank and state funds.

He later told the Financial Times he had fled Libya.

– ‘Utmost importance’ –
On August 18, the central bank announced suspension of all operations following the abduction of its information technology chief, who was eventually released.

Days later, the eastern-based administration accused an “outlaw group” close to Dbeibah’s government of having forcibly taken over the bank and subsequently announced it was suspending operations across oil fields and terminals in areas under its control.

This has cut crude production almost by half, according to the National Oil Company, with daily output dwindling to around 600,000 barrels.

Most of Libya’s revenue comes from its oil resources, with the country’s production mainly in the east.

Output had recently returned to 1.2 million barrels per day, whereas under Kadhafi it was between 1.5 million bpd and 1.6 million bpd.

Speaking at the signing ceremony on Thursday, Stephanie Koury, the acting head of the UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL), called for oil production to be restored in full.

“It is of utmost importance that all parties preserve Libya’s resources and sovereign institutions, and keep them out of the circle of political conflict and factional interests,” she said.