The Head of the High Council of State, Mohammed Takala, renewed the Council’s rejection of the decision to impose a tax on foreign currency exchange transactions, and confirmed support for the appeals against the decision.
Takala explained in a television interview that increasing the exchange rate leads to a worse situation, which encourages currency smuggling operations, adding that the entire savings of Libyans are smuggled abroad and that there is illegal money coming to certain groups through which they benefit from the conflict in Libya.
Takala considered that the increase in the exchange rate reduced monthly income, and that the presence of counterfeit currency confirmed by the Governor of the Central Bank had also contributed to the rise in the exchange rate, calling for tracing the source of this currency.
The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aqila Saleh, issued last March a decision imposing a tax on the official exchange rate of foreign currencies by 27% for all purposes, with the possibility of reducing the price during the period of validity of the decision from the date of its issuance until the end of 2024.
Since the imposition of the tax, the exchange rate of the US dollar against the Libyan dinar continues to rise in the parallel market, reaching up to 7.5 dinars per dollar with an increase in the prices of almost all goods.
