Libyan dinars may be converted to pesos at all banks

MANILA, Philippines - Filipino workers repatriated from strife-torn Libya would be allowed to exchange their Libyan Dinar for Philippine pesos at all offices of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) across the country and at all banks including bank branches at the airports staring today.

The BSP announced over the weekend that the Currency Exchange Facility (CEF) would be available exclusively for overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) displaced by the current situation in Libya wherein each OFW would allowed to exchange up to a maximum equivalent of P10,000 in Libyan dinars.

The exchange shall be allowed only within seven banking days from the date of arrival of the OFW or from the date of issuance of the implementing BSP Memorandum to all banks. The exchange rate of Libyan dinar would be published daily in the BSP Reference Exchange Rate Bulletin.

In approving the CEF, the Monetary Board (MB) took into account the crisis situation in Libya that prevented our OFWs from converting their Libyan dinars to other acceptable foreign currency.

BSP officer-in-charge Juan de Zuniga Jr. has issued Memorandum to All Banks M-2011-012 dated March 3, 2011 establishing the guidelines of the CEF for Libyan dinar as approved the by central bank’s Monetary Board through MB Resolution 307 dated March 3.

The BSP and the banks require the OFWs to present pertinent documents such as passport or valid travel papers issued and signed by the Philippine Embassy and stamped with the date of the their arrival in the Philippines.

Data from the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) showed that there are about 26,000 Filipinos in Libya wherein protests calling for the replacement of Libyan strongman Moammar Gadhafi continue to mount. The Philippine government has earmarked P130 million for the repatriation of about 13,000 OFWs displaced by the conflict in Libya.

There are only 16 foreign currencies convertible with the BSP including the US dollar, Japanese yen, British pound, Hong Kong dollar, Swiss franc, Canadian dollar, Singapore dollar, Australian dollar, Bahrain dinar, Kuwait dinar, Saudi Arabian rial, Brunei dollar, Indonesian rupiah, Thai baht, the United Arab Emirates’ dirham, the European Monetary Union’s euro, the Chinese yuan, and the Korean won.

Other currencies not convertible with the BSP include Argentina’s peso, Brazil’s real, Denmark’s kroner, India’s rupee, Malaysia’s ringgit, Mexico’s new peso, New Zealand’s dollar, Norway’s kroner, Pakistan’s rupee, South Africa’s rand, Sweden’s kroner, Syria’s pound, Taiwan’s dollar, and Venezuela’s bolivar.