Economy and Industry Minister Nasser al-Dersi discusses the GNA’s Economic Programme for Libya

On 2 September Al Monitor published a phone interview with Libya’s Economy and Industry Minister Nasser al-Dersi in which journalist George Mikhail discussed the Government of National Accord (GNA)’s plan to reform Libya's economy. The minister describes the different measures envisaged by the GNA, such as amendments to the subsidies system and the reform of the commodity price system. Talking about the obstacles to Libya’s economic reform, al-Dersi notes:

The economic program … is facing obstacles, mainly the division of the Central Bank into two branches: one in Tripoli and one in al-Bayda. In addition, the presence of a parallel interim government in eastern Libya is not helping because it spends out of [a separate] budget and is not transparent about its financial policy. Meanwhile, the internationally recognized GNA [is authorized to deal] with the whole Libyan market without discrimination between east and west. Therefore, the difference in opinion between the GNA and the parallel bodies impedes a financial economic policy that applies to all Libyan territories. We need one government and one central bank to implement comprehensive reform.

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