Already worn down by years of political turmoil and economic hardships, Libyans are now facing a sharp deterioration in their purchasing power after a sudden devaluation of the Libyan dinar.

Experts have said the national currency's exchange rate decline came as a consequence of ballooning public expenditures by the country's rival governments in recent years.

Libya has Africa's most abundant hydrocarbon reserves, but it is struggling to recover from years of conflict after the 2011 NATO-backed uprising that overthrew longtime dictator Moamer Kadhafi.

It is divided between a UN-recognised government in the capital Tripoli and a rival administration in the east backed by general Khalifa Haftar, with the division exacerbating the country's economic woes.

The Libyan central bank earlier this month devalued the dinar by 13.3 percent, the second such move in five years.

The exchange rate went up to 5.56 dinars to the US dollar from 4.48 -- while on the black market it jumped to 7.80 dinars to the US dollar from 6.90.

The impact was immediate, with small business owners and wholesale traders, who rely heavily on the parallel market to obtain foreign........

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