United Nations Security Council decide to lift sanctions on Libya Central Bank

United Nations Security Council decide to lift sanctions on Libya Central Bank

The United Nations Security Council yesterday lifted sanctions on Libya’s central bank and a key investment back which will culminate in freeing billions of dollars to ease the cash crunch that emerged after Qadhafi’s fall.

While the sanctions were lifted by the UN, the United States immediately announced to unblock over $ 30 billion of assets owned by the Central bank of Libya and its subsidiary – the Libyan Foreign Bank (LFB). Following the suit,
Britain said that it would also release the country’s $ 10 billion.

An estimated $150 billion of assets were frozen around the world in February after the Security Council ordered sanctions against late strongman Moamer Qadhafi, who was overthrown at the end of an uprising in which tens of thousands
died.

The new Tripoli authorities have stepped up calls in recent weeks to release money to pay for salaries and key services amidst a growing threat of economic deadlock.

Prime Minister Abdel Rahim al-Kib and National Transitional Council chief Mustafa Abdel Jalil said the release of funds was "essential for the economic stability of Libya" in a joint letter sent to the council to plea for the freeze
to be ended.

An official request for the lifting of sanctions was made one week ago and no objections were made by any of the council’s 15 members enabling the assets freeze to be lifted on Friday.

On top of more than $30 billion blocked in US accounts, Britain’s Foreign Secretary William Hague said his government would immediately act to free about 6.5 billion pounds ($10 billion) held in Britain.

The easing of the sanctions "marks another significant moment in Libya’s transition," Hague said in a statement.

"It means that Libya’s government will now have full access to the significant funds needed to help rebuild the country, to underpin stability and to ensure that Libyans can make the transactions that are essential to everyday
life."

Hague said Britain would pressure the European Union to quickly release frozen sums.

The White House said it had "rolled back most US sanctions on the government of Libya" — unlocking virtually all Libyan government assets within US jurisdiction.

"These measures, along with the steps taken today by the United Nations Security Council, will allow the Libyan government to access most of its worldwide holdings," the White House said in a statement.

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Posted by Fayyaz Yaseen on Dec 17 2011. Filed under World. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry