GNU PM closes the Iron and Steel Company
Libya’s GNU PM, Abdel Hamid Dbaiba, orders the closure of the Iron and Steel Company in order to supply GECOL’s electrical grid with 150 megawatts and alleviate power cuts.
Author: LS
Ministry of Planning discusses development projects with Libyan PM
The Libyan Prime Minister, Abdel Hamid Dbaiba, held a meeting on Tuesday with the Minister of Planning, Fakher Boufarna, and the Ministry’s two undersecretaries, directors of departments and several advisors within the ministry.
The meeting covered the necessity to work at a quicker pace so as to start the development process, which has been suspended for many years.
For his part, the Libyan Prime Minister instructed the Ministry of Planning to provide a technically detailed report on the proposed development projects of 2021, which are included within the budget, covering all Libyan regions.
Dbaiba annoyed about recurrent long hours power offs in Libya
On Tuesday, June 29, the Prime Minister of the Government of National Unity (GNU), Abdul Hamid Dbeibah, held an emergency meeting with the Chairman and members of the Board of Directors of the General Electricity Company (GECOL) and a number of its engineers, to discuss the reasons behind the deterioration of services during the recent period.
During the meeting, Dbaiba highlighted the necessity of daily follow-up of the urgent plan approved by the government, indicating that the GNU, the Libyan Audit Bureau and the Central Bank of Libya provided all the necessary facilities for the company, especially its urgent plan.
Dbaiba also covered the need to solve the electricity problem in Libya in any way, calling on the company to act as soon as possible in order to end this problem that the citizen suffers in an unacceptable way.
Dbaiba said:” I am convinced that everything the citizen says about the electricity company is true, and I can no longer tolerate the daily criticism, and what the citizen says about the electricity problem,” adding:” We must sit down and explain to people what we will do, and I must work with you on what you will agree on in order to solve the electricity problem in any way, and I think that you will really change the situation and improve the network in the current months.”
Libyan HoR session suspended
The Libyan House of Representatives (HoR) suspended Tuesday’s session on approving the 2021 budget as the government was unable to attend, according to HoR Official Spokesperson Abdullah Belheeg.
Monday’s session emphasised the approval of the first chapter, provided that it includes the laws issued by the HoR to raise the salaries of a number of sectors.
The session also demanded to complete the bill unifying salaries for all state workers and submit it as soon as possible.
The HoR also set a session to decide on Sovereign Positions, given that the High State Council did not respond to the HoR a month after it had referred the candidates’ files to it.
Libya, Morocco Cooperate To Boost Renewable Energies Sector
The Libyan Minister of Oil and Gas, Mohamed Aoun, said on Monday that Libya seeks to cooperate with Morocco in the area of renewable energies and other sectors in which Morocco has made significant advances, particularly in terms of solar and wind energy.
During his visit to the Ministry of Energy, Mining and Environment, Aziz Rbah, the Libyan Minister called for the strengthening of cooperation between both countries, adding that Libya and Morocco plan to sign a Memorandum of Understanding for the resumption of activities which were interrupted due to the Libyan crisis.
Aoun also expressed Libya’s determination to resume bilateral cooperation with Morocco as soon as possible.
For his part, Rbah promised to provide Libya with the necessary support in several areas by sharing experience and expertise in electricity and energy efficiency.
Morocco, Libya agree to boost economic, trade ties
Prime Minister of Libya’s Government of National Unity (GNU) Abdel-Hamid Dbaiba arrived in the Moroccan capital, Rabat, where he was received by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Nasser Bourita.
Dbeibah called for more bilateral cooperation, especially through the abolition of visa, and the establishment of a direct air link between the two North African countries.
They also agreed to hold the ninth meeting of the two countries’ high joint commission in the near future to promote economic and trade relations, according to a statement by the Moroccan prime minister’s office.
US publishes 2021 Fiscal Transparency Report on Libya
The US State Department published a report on Saturday, with several recommendations to improve financial transparency in Libya.
The 2021 Fiscal Transparency Report on Libya said that Libya’s fiscal transparency would be improved by publishing complete and reliable budget documents, within a reasonable period of time.
The report noted the importance of disclosing budget documents information on debt obligations, including state-owned enterprise debt, and other financial data.
It also stressed the need to fully rely on internationally accepted accounting principles, and publish the audit institution’s reports on the budget for the Government of National Unity (GNU and state-owned companies.
“Internal political and civil conflict has prevented the Libyan government from fully implementing its budget processes, which has adversely affected fiscal transparency and the country’s operations. An end-of-year budget report was available online. Only limited information on debt obligations, including state-owned enterprise debt, was publicly available,” the report added.
The report pointed out that the financial allocations for the General Electricity Company of Libya (GECOL), were not explicitly specified. It noted that the budget documents available to the public were largely incomplete and lacked sufficient details. This was the same case with audit reports for large state-owned institutions, such as the National Oil Corporation (NOC).
Libya’s NOC announces May revenues
NOC announces that the net revenues achieved during May 2021 from the sales of crude oil, gas, condensates, oil products and petrochemicals have amounted to record levels due to the huge demand and an increase in the international prices.
Crude oil achieved the sum of 1,322,362,503.68 US dollars, followed by gas and condensates which sales amounted to 53,055,556.55 US dollars.
NOC has achieved revenues from the sales of oil products amounting to 13,925,159.15 US dollars, while the petrochemicals’ revenues amounted to 584,405.61 US dollars, in addition to 5,824,254.83 Euros.
The total net revenues from oil sales in US dollars amounted to 1,389,927,624.99 US dollars, and 5,824,254.83 euros.
May’s revenues do not include royalties and taxes. There are 194,736,598.07 million US dollars of May’s revenues that will be shown in June’s outcome, due to the fact that their payment due date coincided with a holiday in the beginning of June, which necessitates documenting them on the date of their payment.
GECOL visits Siemens factory in Germany
The General Electricity Company of Libya (GECOL) announced on Thursday, 24 Juin, 2021 that on the margins of the Berlin ll Conference on Libya (23 June), its chairman Wiam Al-Abdali visited the Siemens factory where power generation units are being manufactured for its two emergency electricity generation projects: Tripoli West and Misrata.
The two projects have a total capacity of 1,300 megawatts. Spare parts for generating units operating at other power stations were also being manufactured at the site.
According to Libya Herald, GECOL reported that the Siemens meeting resulted in the following agreement:
- The units intended to be installed in the projects under implementation (Misrata, Tripoli West) were transferred to the port to be shipped to Libya in July, and their installation process to begin after the necessary bases for them at the project sites are prepared.
- The manufacturing of units for the projects targeted for implementation in Libya shall be given priority for manufacturing in Siemens’ factories.
- Siemens to conduct a technical study on the entire Libyan electricity network, to ensure that it accommodates the production capacities of the electrical energy targeted to be loaded into it and to suggest the required treatments for that.
- Establishing a training centre in Libya in partnership between the GECOL and Siemens to implement the training programmes for operation and maintenance in the field of production and transmission of electric power. The training programmes are to be prepared and under the supervision of Siemens.
High Council of State, Ministry of Finance discuss unifying salary scales
The Chairman of the High Council of State (HCS), Khalid Al-Mishri, accompanied by the first deputy head of the HCS, Mohammed Baki, held a meeting on Wednesday with the Minister of Finance, Khalid Al-Mabrouk.
The meeting addressed the functioning of the Ministry, the difficulties it encounters under the absence of a state budget, and ways of overcoming these difficulties.
The possibility of cooperation between the Council and the Government to provide a common salary scale was addressed as well. In fact, the cooperation aims at reducing the gap between the private and public sector pay.
The meeting also highlighted the most effective way to address the issue of subsidies in a way to boost the Libyan economic without affecting the living standards.
It should be noted that the Minister of Finance was accompanied by the Director of the Treasury Department, Dr. Al-Azhar Keshir, and the Director of the Ministry’s affairs, Al-Mahdi Al-Warshfani.