Libyan Cent Bank chief quits Libya to flee militias

Libya’s central bank chief Sadiq al-Kabir said he and other senior bank employees had to flee the country to protect their lives from militias.

Few days ago, the bank suspended activity after a senior official was kidnapped by militias.

Disrupted central bank activity, which controls billions of hydrocarbons money, has forced oil production to shutdown in the divided country between two rival governments in the east and west.

According to the FT report, the Tripoli-based government attempted to remove Al-Kabir by sending a militia.

Al-Kabir had accused the prime minister in Tripoli of “overspending and painting a misleadingly ‘rosy’ picture of the economy in his speeches”.

In reaction to the Tripoli government’s attacks on the central bank governor, the Benghazi-based eastern government announced it was shutting down oilfields.

The UN and the US urged the warring parties to negotiate, adding that the conflict over the central bank “undermines confidence in Libya’s economic and financial stability in the eyes of Libyan citizens and the international community, and increases the likelihood of harmful confrontation”.