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Libya withdraws banknote bearing Gaddafi’s effigy

12 September 2011 22:26 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Libyan banks have decided to withdraw a banknote bearing the effigy of fallen Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, APA reports.

"The banks have agreed to collect the notes and to hand them over to the Central Bank," said Talal al Dhaguissi, an official in charge of a branch of Libya’s National Commercial Bank in capital Tripoli, according to TAP.

The banknote which represents the equivalent of 40 U.S. dollars, is Libya’s largest currency. It was introduced on the eve of the celebration in 2008 of the 1969 coup which brought Gaddafi to power.

The move was welcomed by Libyans. "We can’t chase Gaddafi from power and keep his image on our currency," TAP quoted a Tripoli notary as saying.

In 1971, Gaddafi decided to adopt the dinar instead of the Libyan pound inherited from the Idriss monarchy.