Hommam Al Nassim 
The purchasing power of citizens in Libya is suffering from successive collapses in parallel with the rise in food prices, which increases the pressure on the population living under the weight of an ongoing war.
according to the French Press Agency, indicate that the main reason behind this significant decline in purchasing power is attributed to the substantial increase in prices of imported consumer goods. This is a result of the depreciation of the Libyan dinar in the parallel market.
The value of the Libyan dinar has fallen from five dinars per dollar to 7.5 dinars per dollar in the parallel market, while its official rate remains 4.8 dinars.
Families are suffering from a doubling of the cost of living due to the rise in the prices of basic foodstuffs, such as pasta, rice, sugar, and flour, which were previously subsidized, becoming hostage to the dollar exchange rate in the parallel market, increasing the pressures of life for many Libyan families.
The crisis comes amid ongoing attempts to recover from the turmoil that the country has witnessed since the fall of the regime of the late Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, as the country remains divided between two rival camps and two parallel governments.
Economists attribute the reason for the devaluation of the Libyan dinar in the parallel market and the lack of liquidity in banks to the decisions of the Central Bank of Libya, where the bank-imposed restrictions on the opening of credits for the purpose of importing, prompting some importers of products to resort to the parallel market to obtain foreign currency.
Although Libya has the largest oil reserves on the continent, these revenues face difficulties in covering the needs of the two parallel executive branches and the salaries of employees, with more than half of the revenues allocated to the salaries of employees in the government sector and a small part remaining to meet the rest of the national needs.
Retirees and public sector employees continue to suffer from delayed payment of salaries and pensions for several months, reflecting ongoing challenges facing the country’s economy.