Juma Gamaty head of the Tagheer (change) Party said:
"It’s not the government’s role to run and operate various sectors of the economy. It should be for the private sector. The state should withdraw from these sectors. It’s the private sector that will build the business sector in Libya, not the state."
CBL Governor Saddek Elkaber said the CBL’s role is to facilitate the banking environment for the private sector, but other speakers immediately cut him off, complaining about continued bureaucracy, red tape and the time it takes to complete even basic banking procedures and processes.
Some said they could not understand why the Governor was blocking bank transfers except for theoretically a short list of certain products.
The CBL Governor held up a thick file saying "look at the number of companies that have transferred money without producing documentary evidence that goods have entered Libya in return." He then appealed to the business community to cooperate with CBL regulations by furnishing documents to prove that they have actually imported goods in justification for their bank transfers.
Ramadan Zabtia, owner of Zagrit, one of the leading and longest established importers of vegetable seeds into Libya, complained bitterly to the Governor about the whole process and procedures of opening of letters of credit for his imports.
Some business people complained that the LBC would not allow access to the meeting except for LBC paid up members, saying that the meeting was for "big business" and that it excluded SMEs.
By lunch time most business people had departed early, unconvinced and unhappy at what they were hearing from the authorities.
(Source: Libya Herald)
