The Presidential Council has urged the governor of the Central Bank of Libya (CBL) to take actions against printing and circulating the "counterfeit currency", referring to the Libyan banknotes printed in Russia by the parallel CBL in Al-Bayda in eastern Libya.

The letter dated October 13 2019 from the Presidential Council to the CBL was circulated on social media on Saturday. It says the printing of Libyan dinar banknotes outside the law regulations can be dealt with as a crime of money forgery.

The Presidential Council urged CBL governor to warn commercial banks not to deal with the Russia-printed banknotes, calling on him to take legal actions to ensure the national currency is stable.

The parallel CBL printed billions of dinars in Russia, which helped send the value of the dinar in 2015-2016 into collapse against foreign currencies.

The High Council of State called earlier on CBL governor to take measures that ensure the parallel CBL banknotes are not circulated to protect national economy.

Last week, Malta seized a large shipment of Russia-printed headed to east Libya, saying it would coordinate with the Presidential Council and Tripoli-based CBL.