AFP, Tripoli

Libya’s rival eastern and western legislative bodies have signed a US-mediated agreement to unify public spending across the divided country for the first time in over a decade, the central bank said yesterday.

The north African country has struggled to recover from the chaos that erupted following the 2011 Arab Spring uprising that toppled longtime ruler Muammar Gaddafi.

It remains divided between a UN-recognised government led by Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dbeibah based in Tripoli and an eastern administration in Benghazi backed by military leader Khalifa Haftar.

“This step reflects real progress toward unifying fiscal policy and strengthening the good management of public spending,” the central bank said of the new budget, calling the agreement “the first consensus on unified spending across Libya in over 13 years”.