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Central BanksUpdated•Originally published 6 September 2026•Updated 6 September 2026•
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Libya Central Bank, Economy Ministry Agree to Facilitate Essential-Goods Import Credits

Key Facts

1The essential-goods and documentary-credit meeting took place on September 6, 2026.
2The central bank and economy ministry agreed to regulate and facilitate documentary-credit openings.
3Documentary-credit usage from January 1 to April 30, 2026, was USD 4,327,904,928, down 16.6% from the same period of 2025.
4The 3,080 accepted credit applications represented 80.9% of 3,808 non-personal foreign-exchange applications.
5The September 6, 2026, statement announced no new financing amount or implementation timetable.

The Central Bank of Libya said Governor Naji Issa met Economy and Trade Minister Suhail Abu Shiha on September 6, 2026, to discuss the market's essential-goods needs. The officials discussed ranking those needs by priority for the coming period. They agreed on measures to support the regulation and facilitation of documentary-credit openings while strengthening coordination among the relevant entities. The bank described regular goods flows and price stability as objectives, without saying those outcomes had already been achieved.

The meeting addressed the flow of credits allocated to finance imports of essential goods and supplies. A documentary credit is an issuing bank's undertaking to pay the seller when documents complying with its terms are presented. Facilitating credit openings therefore connects payment for imports through banking channels with the supplier's presentation of the required documents. The September 6, 2026, statement did not publish a list of goods, quantities, suppliers or shipment dates.

The regulatory framework predates the September 6, 2026, meeting. The International Monetary Fund reported that controls imposed on April 30, 2015, required Central Bank of Libya approval for import letters of credit. The fund also recorded that credits were required for some imports and that applications required tax-clearance and social-security payment certificates. On July 23, 2025, the central bank announced a company-registration service through its Foreign Currency Management System, with a one-week pilot before the official August 1, 2025, launch and requirements for a CBL key and company IBAN.

The importance of letters of credit is visible in central-bank data covering January 1 to April 30, 2026. Banks used USD 4,327,904,928 for documentary credits, compared with USD 5,190,430,195 in the same period of 2025, a decline of 16.6%. The bank recorded 3,080 accepted credit applications out of 3,808 non-personal foreign-exchange applications, or 80.9%. Miscellaneous food products, dairy products and derivatives were the largest category in accepted private-sector coverage requests at USD 880,408,836.

The central bank had separately decided on July 26, 2026, to allocate USD 1 billion during the following week for letters of credit and to accelerate import-financing procedures. The September 6, 2026, statement did not announce a new allocation or an implementation timetable. The two sides confirmed that coordination would continue and that necessary measures would be taken to support economic stability and local-market balance. The development therefore remains an agreement on procedures and objectives, not evidence that specific credits have been opened, shipments have arrived or prices have stabilized.