(Author: Libyan Gazette Editorial Staff)
On Wednesday bank guards at the North Africa Bank shot dead three people as they tried to break up a crowd of hundreds of citizens lined up outside the bank in Tripoli to take out cash.
While people were queuing outside the bank in hopes to withdraw their money, the bank guard shot at the crowd killing three and injuring eight.
The economic and financial situation in Libya is in crisis due to the ongoing political conflict since the fall of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.
Wednesday’s shooting happened outside the North Africa Bank in Tripoli’s Qaser Bin Ghasir neighborhood, and the guards in question had been placed under investigation, said a security official.
The country’s oil revenues, which account for nearly 96 percent of Libya’s exports, have dropped on collapsing oil prices and an 80 percent decline in oil production due to labour strikes, political conflict, and attacks on oil fields.
Libyan banks are facing a liquidity crisis with people waiting hours outside of banks to get their salaries or take out their money due to their lack of trust in the banking system.
Fathi Ben Issa, a spokesman for the Government of National Accord (GNA), said officials in both the Tripoli Central Bank and its parallel chain of command in the east are looking for solutions.
On Tuesday, Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj ordered the ministry of finance, along with the ministries of justice, interior, foreign affairs to begin working.
Sarraj’s unity government is facing many challenges, along with battling ISIS militants, the ongoing economic crisis, and trying to deal with the increasing flow of migrants, the GNA is also waiting on the Tobruk-based House of Representatives to give their vote of confidence to the cabinet.
