Libya’s eastern parliament on Monday appointed Naji Mohamed Issa Belqasem as the new governor of the Central Bank, following the dismissal of former governor Sadiq al-Kabir last month by the presidential council in Tripoli.
All 108 lawmakers voted in favor of Belqasem, who previously served as the bank’s director of banking and monetary control, according to parliament spokesperson Abdullah Bliheg. The parliament also named Mari Muftah Rahil Barrasi as Belqasem’s deputy. The two are expected to establish a new board of directors for the Central Bank within ten days.
This decision aligns with a U.N.-facilitated agreement between the parliament and the High Council of State aimed at appointing new leadership for the Central Bank.
In August, the presidential council appointed Mohamed Abdul Salam al-Shukri, the former deputy governor, as al-Kabir’s successor. The Tripoli-based council is allied with the government of Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah, which governs western Libya.
However, the eastern parliament and the Supreme Council of State, based in Tripoli, contested the legitimacy of al-Kabir’s removal, arguing that such decisions should be coordinated with both bodies, per interim regulations established during U.N.-backed negotiations designed to unify the country’s institutions.
Al-Kabir had served as governor since October 2011, following the NATO-backed uprising that ousted longtime leader Moammar Gadhafi, who ruled Libya for over four decades. In the months leading to his dismissal, al-Kabir faced criticism from officials across Libya’s political spectrum regarding the allocation of the country’s oil resources.
