House discusses salary scale and lowering the exchange rate
LIBYA – The House of Representatives, at its official session in Benghazi on Monday, directed its relevant committees to work on preparing a unified salary scale and lowering the exchange rate in coordination with the Central Bank. The session was chaired by Speaker Salehin Abdulnabi and attended by First Deputy Speaker Tariq Al-Ashtar and Second Deputy Speaker Misbah Douma.
Demands on wages, prices and goods
The session opened with an address by the Speaker on citizens’ economic hardship, high prices and housing problems and the House’s role in resolving them, as well as the urgent need for a unified salary scale covering all sectors, with each sector having its own distinct allowance.
The Speaker directed the Planning and Finance Committee to work on lowering the exchange rate in coordination with the Central Bank, set an overall import budget and prepare a unified salary scale under which all Libyans are treated equally, with an allowance for each sector according to the nature of its work.
He also directed that Chapter One be restricted to salaries alone, excluding items treated as equivalent to salaries, that spending be made only through what is approved in the budget, and that no letters of credit be opened without matching cover in foreign or local currency.
The Economy Committee was directed to determine, in coordination with the Ministry of Economy, the annual quantities of goods needed by the Libyan people, and the Health Committee to determine, in coordination with the Ministry of Health and the Medical Supply Authority, the annual quantities of medicines needed by the health sector. The House’s Energy Committee was tasked with determining, in coordination with the relevant authorities, the annual quantities of fuel that need to be imported.
The Speaker also directed the Education Committee to follow up on the unified salary scale and the teachers’ previous allowance and to compile a count of teachers actually in service, while the Productive Sectors Committee and the Agriculture Monitoring Committee were asked to determine the needs for animal feed, grain and raw materials used in industry.
Internal rules and emergency law under discussion
The House then moved on to the items on its agenda. Under the first item, it discussed forming a committee of members to receive members’ comments on the internal rules, and agreed to task the House’s assistant rapporteur with receiving the names of members wishing to join the committee.
Under the second item, the House discussed a draft law establishing the Libyan Authority for Emergency, Crisis and Disaster Management and, before the reading of the draft began, agreed to discuss the law article by article.
House of Representatives member Abdulsalam Nasiya gave a briefing on the draft law, after which the Second Deputy Speaker began reading out its text, with members discussing each article after it was read. The session was then adjourned.
