Circular 9/2012: External Remittances for Importing Goods and Production Means

Central Bank of Libya
P.O. Box: 1103, Al-Adnan Al-Barqi, Qlibya - Tripoli - Libya

Reference: E M M / N 804
Circular E R M N No. (2012/9)
Date: 5 Jumada al-Awwal 1433 AH
Corresponding to: March 28, 2012

To: General Managers of Commercial Banks
To: Heads of Temporary Administrative Committees at Commercial Banks To: General Manager, Libyan External Bank

Greetings...

Subject: External Remittances for Importing Goods and Production Means

Based on the provisions of Law No. (1) of 2005 concerning Banks, And referring to Circular E R M N No. (2006/13) issued on 26/7/2006, concerning tracking payment methods and procedures for financing imports using commercial bank remittances.

And to Circular E R M N No. (2009/5) issued on 19/4/2009, concerning the modification of the settlement period for external remittances issued for commercial purposes to a maximum of four months. And Circular E R M N No. (2010/7) issued on 21/4/2010, concerning granting permission to commercial banks to conduct external remittances to finance the import of raw materials and operational supplies for industrial entities.

And Circular E R M N No. (2012/4) notified to banks on 30/1/2012, concerning directly accepting applications related to importing goods and production means, using bank remittances, and referring them to the competent committees at the Central Bank of Libya for decision, in accordance with the controls contained in the circular.

We hereby inform you of the approval of the Governor of the Central Bank of Libya to transfer to all commercial banks, the authority to implement requests submitted to them for importing goods and production means, via external remittances, for commercial purposes, without the need for presentation to the Central Bank of Libya, provided that:

The following is adhered to:
1- Work must be conducted in accordance with the controls and ceilings contained in Circular E R M N No. (2012/4) mentioned above, and banks shall refer any exceptional cases that come to them in this regard to this Administration for consideration.

……/continued

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  2- Adherence to not exceeding the maximum limit allowed to be transferred to each entity, fixed at an amount of $500,000.00 US dollars, or its equivalent in foreign currencies, in a single year, and banks must take all measures and procedures to limit the occurrence of duplicate cases, which lead to exceeding the annual ceiling allowed for a single entity, if the transfer is made through more than one branch belonging to the same bank, or through multiple accounts opened for the entity at different banks, and banks must develop systems that ensure the integrity of procedures and prevent duplicate transfers and the impossibility of such cases for a single entity in a single year.

3- Supplier entities are required to provide the statistical code card issued by the Customs Authority as part of the documents required to be presented to the bank, when requesting an external remittance for the purpose of supply.

4- Banks are prohibited from conducting any external remittances for commercial purposes for any entity that fails to submit customs declarations indicating the entry of supplied goods, which are necessary to settle the external remittances executed on its behalf, in accordance with instructions issued by the Central Bank of Libya.

5- Banks are required to submit a monthly statement to the Banking and Currency Supervision Department, on a compact disc (CD), containing the names of entities and the volume and purposes of the transfers executed by the banks for this purpose, as per the established procedure.

And emphasizing the necessity of adhering to the instructions issued by the Central Bank of Libya in this regard, all bank branches will be subjected to periodic inspection procedures to verify the extent of their compliance with the application of instructions governing transactions in remittances issued for the purpose of importing from abroad, in application of the provisions of Law No. (1) of 2005 concerning Banks.

Peace, mercy, and blessings of God be upon you

Dr. Muhammad Abdul Jalil Abusinina
Director of Banking and Currency Supervision Department

To: The Assistant
To: The Deputy Assistant
To: The Undersecretary of the Ministry of Economy and Trade To: The Undersecretary of the Ministry of Finance To: The Undersecretary of the Ministry of Accounting To: The General Manager of the Customs Authority To: The Secretary of the Committee for Preparing the General Union of Chambers of Commerce and Industry To: The Director of Legal Affairs Department, Central Bank of Libya To: The Director of Remittances Department, Central Bank of Libya To: Attention: Branches of the Central Bank of Libya (Benghazi, Sabha, Sirte) Financial and Accounting Department Date: 2012/3/Memalidem

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