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OPEC+ Speeds Up Oil Output Hikes

FILE PHOTO: OPEC logo is seen in this illustration taken, October 8, 2023. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: OPEC logo is seen in this illustration taken, October 8, 2023. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
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OPEC+ Speeds Up Oil Output Hikes

FILE PHOTO: OPEC logo is seen in this illustration taken, October 8, 2023. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: OPEC logo is seen in this illustration taken, October 8, 2023. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo

Eight OPEC+ countries agreed on Thursday to advance their plan to phase out oil output cuts by increasing output by 411,000 barrels per day in May.

Eight members of OPEC+, which includes the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies led by Russia, had been scheduled to raise output by 135,000 barrels per day in May as part of a plan to gradually unwind their most recent layer of output cuts.
But after a meeting of the eight countries held online on Thursday, the group announced it would boost output by 411,000 bpd in May. OPEC cited "continuing healthy market fundamentals and the positive market outlook."
"This comprises the increment originally planned for May in addition to two monthly increments," OPEC said in a statement referring to the volume. "The gradual increases may be paused or reversed subject to evolving market conditions."
The eight OPEC+ countries will meet on May 5 to decide on June output, OPEC's statement said.

They are Saudi Arabia, Russia, Iraq, UAE, Kuwait, Kazakhstan, Algeria, and Oman.

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Libya Devalues Currency for First Time in Four Years 

People sit by at the newly refurbished Martyr's Square in the Libyan capital Tripoli on April 4, 2025. (AFP)
People sit by at the newly refurbished Martyr's Square in the Libyan capital Tripoli on April 4, 2025. (AFP)
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Libya Devalues Currency for First Time in Four Years 

People sit by at the newly refurbished Martyr's Square in the Libyan capital Tripoli on April 4, 2025. (AFP)
People sit by at the newly refurbished Martyr's Square in the Libyan capital Tripoli on April 4, 2025. (AFP)

Libya's central bank announced a 13.3% devaluation of the country's dinar currency on Sunday, setting the exchange rate at 5.5677 to the US dollar effective immediately.

This is the first official devaluation since the bank agreed to a devalued exchange rate of 4.48 dinars to the dollar in 2020.

The parallel market exchange rate is currently at 7.20 dinars to the dollar.

In September last year, the dinar slid against the US dollar in the black market due to a crisis over control of the central bank that slashed oil output and exports.

The crisis was resolved later in September following an agreement signed by representatives of Libya's rival eastern and western legislative bodies. The agreement, facilitated by the United Nations, paved the way for the appointment of a new central bank governor.

In November, the eastern-based parliament speaker reduced the tax on foreign currency purchases to 15% from 20%. The tax is added to the rate when people buy foreign currencies from commercial banks.

Libya has been plagued by instability since a NATO-backed uprising in 2011, leading to a split in 2014 between eastern and western factions, each governed by rival administrations.

The spending of the two governments in 2024 totaled 224 billion dinars ($46 billion), including 42 billion dinars for crude-for-fuel swaps, the central bank said in a statement on Sunday.

Public debt stood at 270 billion dinars, it said, projecting that it could exceed 330 billion dinars by the end of 2025 due to the lack of a unified budget.

In December, Stephanie Koury, deputy head of the UN mission to Libya, urged the country's decision-makers to "urgently agree on a framework for spending in 2025 with agreed limits and oversight".