The United States on Friday lifted most of the economic sanctions it had in place against Libya before the fall of former ruler Moammar Gadhafi.

"After careful consultation with the new Libyan government, the United States rolled back most U.S. sanctions on the government of Libya to keep our commitment to the Libyan people,'' the White House said in a statement.

The action unfreezes all government and Central Bank of Libya funds within U.S. jurisdiction, with limited exceptions. Assets in the U.S. of the Gadhafi family and former Gadhafi regime members remain frozen.
The move was announced the same day the U.N. Security Council lifted sanctions on Libya's central bank and a subsidiary, clearing the way for their overseas assets to be unfrozen to ease a cash crisis, a council diplomat said.
The Central Bank of Libya and the Libyan Foreign Bank, an offshore institution wholly owned by the central bank, were taken off the council's sanctions list drawn up earlier this year amid civil war in the Arab state.

After a rebellion broke out in February against Gadhafi, the Security Council froze Libyan assets abroad, estimated at $150 billion. Most of that sum has remained beyond the reach of the oil-rich country's new rulers.
Gadhafi's 42-year rule collapsed when his forces fled Tripoli in August, and the last of the fighting in Libya ended in October when he was captured and killed by rebels.