Tripoli, Jan 23 (IANS): The co-chairs of the International Follow-Up Committee on Libya's Economic Working Group on Friday held a meeting to discuss the war-torn country's economic issues, according to the UN.

"The meeting was convened to discuss urgent economic issues including the need to manage the impacts of a unified exchange rate as well as the need to unify and consolidate a national budget," Xinhua news agency quoted a statement issued on Friday by the UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) as saying.

The meeting was attended by senior Libyan officials as well as senior diplomats representing the member states of the Berlin Conference, experts from the Libyan Economic Dialogue, the US Department of the Treasury, the IMF and the World Bank, the statement said.

"The co-chairs welcomed the recent economic reforms, including the re-activation of the Central Bank of Libya (CBL)'s Board of Directors, the unification of the exchange rate... These reforms are viewed as critical to creating a more durable, transparent, and equitable economic arrangement," it said.

The participants agreed to address the increasing costs of basic commodities, including bread, and to implement measures to ease banking crisis.

They also agreed on the need to finance critical expenditures for the 2021 budget and finalise a unified and consolidated budget at the earliest opportunity.

"To this end, it was agreed that next Monday, UNSMIL, together with the World Bank and IMF, will convene a meeting of the CBL and Ministry of Finance to address these critical issues for the benefit of the Libyan people," the statement added.