Libya Dinar

The Libyan dinar (LYD) is the official currency of Libya, which has the highest GDP-per-capita in the entirety of the African continent. Libyan dinar is often referred to as jni, and is usually only referred to as dinar in economic analyses from outside parties. Since the 2011 overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi and his socialist government, Libya still uses to Libyan dinar, but is redesigning new notes to replace notes that contain the face of Gaddafi, as well as his crest. Currently, the Libyan dinar conversion value is roughly equal to $0.71 USD.

Origins

The current nation of Libya achieved independence in 1951. During this time, it adopted the Libyan pound, which was based off of a British-style of currency. In 1971, the Central Bank of Libya, then controlled by the Revolutionary Command Council (and Muammar Gaddafi, by proxy) introduced the Libyan dinar, and began to cycle Libyan pound out of circulation. Eventually, four years later, in 1975, the Central Bank of Libya also introduced denominations of the Libyan dinar, which are called dirham.

Libyan economy

Libya’s economy, ever since the 2011 Libyan Civil War, which saw the end of Gaddafi’s control, has become more and more privatized. Due to its political isolation from the United Nations and the United States for several decades, the introduction of Libya into the globalized economy is also still an ongoing effort. Currently, the largest threat to Libyan economic sovereignty is that its profits lack diversification, as most of its economy is dependent on the energy sector, which is a common problem for many countries in the region.