Libyans on brink of collapse as dinar continues to be devalued and prices keep soaring
Libyans are suffering from a continuous surge of prices in all kinds of basic goods in the markets amid growing shortages of cash at the banks and sharp devaluation of the dinar against foreign currency.
Everywhere you go in Tripoli and other cities in Libya, you can find hundreds of people – men and women – standing in lines at the doors of banks every day hoping to cash out some sum of their salaries or deposits so that they can keep up with the high prices in the market.
In Libya nowadays, and with the dollar being exchanged for LYD6.40, the prices of foods and basic food supplies are not under everyone’s nose, as many families are putting up with acute shortages of flour, sugar, rice, oil, tomato paste and other cooking materialssjust because they cannot buy them regularly with their current high prices.
Sugar has reached 6 dinars per kilo soaring more than 4 dinars in two months. Cooking oil reached 6 dinars as well surging 3 dinars in the last three months and so did other basic foods in the Libyan market.
Even transportation in Libya has doubled up. According to Tripoli residents, taxis inside Tripoli used to receive between 3 and 5 dinars for an errand, while now, it costs between LYD7 and LYD10.
Home rentals have gone high as well. According to Tripoli residents, rents have reached no less than LYD700 and mostly from LYD1000 to more, while last year prices used to range from 350 to 700 and rarely 1000 dinars.
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