Libya’s central bank has announced the suspension of all operations after a senior employee was kidnapped in the capital Tripoli.
The bank condemned the kidnapping of its chief information technology officer Musab Msallem in a statement on Sunday.
They said Mr Msallem was abducted from his home by an “unknown party” on Sunday morning and other staff had been threatened with kidnapping.
The central bank said operations would not resume until Mr Msallem was released.
The central bank, an independent but state-owned Libyan bank, is the only internationally recognized custodian of Libya’s oil revenues – a vital source of economic income for a country that has for years been divided between rival governments in Tripoli and Benghazi.
The incident happened a week after the central bank was surrounded by armed men, AFP news agency reported.
According to local media quoted by AFP, the armed men did so to force bank governor Seddik al-Kabir to resign.
Since taking power in 2012, Mr. Kabir has faced criticism over his management of oil resources and the state budget.
Since the overthrow and killing of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, the country has chronically insecure.
The country has been torn apart by power struggles and currently has two governments – one UN-recognised and based in Tripoli, and another in the east of the country backed by warlord General Khalifa Haftar.
