Libya’s central bank devalued the dinar by 14.7% on Sunday against the International Monetary Fund’s Special Drawing Rights, blaming weaker oil revenue and mounting fiscal strain in a country still split by rival power centers and competing budgets.
The move, approved after the bank’s first board meeting of 2026 on Wednesday, reset the rate to 0.1150 Special Drawing Rights per dinar from 0.1348, according to the central bank. The bank pointed to political divisions, lower global oil prices, the lack of a unified national budget, and rising public spending, saying the adjustment was needed to preserve financial stability.
The Special Drawing Right is the International Monetary Fund’s reserve asset, valued off a basket of major currencies—the US dollar, euro, Chinese yuan, Japanese yen, and British pound—often used as a yardstick in cross-border accounting and official reserves.
Libya relies heavily on oil exports to fund public salaries, subsidies, and imports, leaving the dinar exposed when crude income softens or state spending surges. Since the 2011 overthrow of Moammar Gadhafi, repeated political stand-offs and institutional fragmentation have complicated efforts to standardize fiscal policy and rebuild investor confidence.
In a separate announcement, Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah unveiled a $2.7 billion expansion plan for the Misurata Free Zone Port Terminal, saying it will be financed by foreign investors rather than the state budget. Dbeibah said the project would lift capacity to roughly 4 million containers a year and help position Libya as a regional logistics hub.
Misurata, on the Mediterranean coast, is a major commercial center and a key trade gateway toward Africa.