Skip to main content

Author: LS

Libya: Sovereign fund to ask UN for freedom to invest billions

Written by LS on . Posted in News. No Comments on Libya: Sovereign fund to ask UN for freedom to invest billions

Libya’s sovereign wealth fund head plans to ask the United Nations to allow it to invest billions of dollars sitting idle in its accounts, after missing out on some $4.1 billion in potential equity returns during nearly a decade of sanctions.

The Libyan Investment Authority (LIA) was blacklisted in March 2011 because it was then controlled by the family of toppled ruler Muammar Gaddafi. Its assets were valued at $67 billion in 2012, but LIA plans to update that in October after a review by its financial adviser Deloitte.

Sanctions have had a heavy toll on the LIA, with investment curbs meaning it had missed out on around $4.1 billion in potential returns if it had invested in line with the market average, chairman Ali Mahmoud Hassan Mohamed told Reuters.

The LIA also wanted to avoid negative interest rate charges, which had cost it around $23 million since 2011, he said.

“We have billions of cash in our accounts not invested,” Mohamed said in an interview this week. “It would be much better to take advantage of the market situation and invest at this moment.”

Libya had previously asked the U.N. Security Council to approve a sanctions exemption for the LIA in 2016, but this request was turned down as the U.N. wanted to see a stable government in place before doing so.

Although the LIA is not pushing for a full rollback, it is aiming to apply to the U.N. Sanctions Committee for adjustments to enable it to invest, via a custodian, some of the $12.7 billion frozen cash held by its investment managers.

This includes some of the proceeds from 796 bond holdings, with a value of $4.8 billion, that have matured since 2011.

Any investments the LIA tried to make at present were hampered by a lengthy process that required it to gain approval from the sanctions committee as well as within Libya.

“It is time consuming and investment decisions are time sensitive,” Mohamed said.

Market volatility during the coronavirus crisis has hit the LIA, cutting the value of its stock holdings by about 5% and prompting a potential debt restructuring for some of its hundreds of subsidiaries.

Libya slipped into chaos after the NATO-backed overthrow of Gaddafi and has been split since 2014, with an internationally recognised government controlling the capital Tripoli and the northwest of the country, while military leader Khalifa Haftar in Benghazi rules the east.

“We are an independent sovereign wealth fund and have nothing to do with political conflicts within the country right now,” he said. “This fund is owned by all Libyans and we work for all Libyans.”

The government supervises the LIA through the board of trustees, he said. It aims to improve its governance in line with other sovereign funds by the end of 2020, including complying with the Santiago Principles and appointing an external auditor to review its financial results, he added.

Libyan businessman calls on conflict parties to resume talks

Written by LS on . Posted in News. No Comments on Libyan businessman calls on conflict parties to resume talks

During “Flusna”, a television program broadcasted on WTV channel and Tabadul Platform, the businessman Rashid Sawan said that the Act No. 1201 that prohibits the import of goods, except through official legal channels, is considered valid only within an organized and sovereign state where the law is above all. However, we will not be able to enforce this law under these circumstances.

” The reforms introduced by the finance minister, Fraj Bumtari, did not reduce the expenditures, but rather reduced theft.” He said.

Sawan was so affected that he started crying as soon as he has urged all parties in the conflict in Libya to resume talks and solve the problem, considering the Libyan citizens as victims.

” If I assume the Office of Finance Minister, I would keep up with the market, at the first place, instead of adapting it,.” He said, adding that no one can control the market.

Libya: Haftar lifts blockade on oil production

Written by LS on . Posted in News. No Comments on Libya: Haftar lifts blockade on oil production

Khalifa Haftar lifted Tuesday the blockade on oil production in the country after several months, according to the head of Libya’s Petroleum Facilities Guards. 

“Haftar gave the order to reopen the ports and facilities in order to end the problems experienced by the Libyans in many areas of life and to protect the infrastructure of the oil production and export facilities,” said Naji al-Maghribi.

Oil production has almost come to a standstill in Libya after pro-Haftar groups shut down oil facilities in eastern parts of the country in January to squeeze resources of the UN-recognized Libyan government.

Libya with the largest oil reserves in Africa can produce 1.2 million barrels of crude oil per day. But production has fallen below 100,000 barrels a day due to the interruptions by the pro-Haftar militias over the past seven months.

Libya: number of registered job seekers over 125,000

Written by LS on . Posted in News. No Comments on Libya: number of registered job seekers over 125,000


The Director of the Information and Documentation Center at the Ministry of Labor and Rehabilitation, Masoud Gadaffi said that the amount of job seekers registered on the system is 126,000, of whom, approximately 72,000 are from the western region.

Gadaffi indicated that the registered number is unrealistic, citing a lack of data for job seekers at Labor Offices nationwide, particularly those located in the eastern region, but also to the reluctance of job seekers themselves to register, due to lack of job opportunities.

USAID to install solar plants in Libya

Written by LS on . Posted in News. No Comments on USAID to install solar plants in Libya

Solar plants, that are projected to boost water supplies to Tripoli as well as electricity supply in southern Libya to the towns and tribes along the river, will be installed along the Man-made River route, says the US Embassy on Facebook.

The project is handled by the Libyan Public Money Management (LPFM) of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), in partnership with the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL), the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), the World Bank, and the Libyan Local Investment and Development Fund (LLIDF), according to the US Embassy.

It explained that the project aims to provide emergency standby power to water pumping stations along the Man-made River water system, as well as employment opportunities and revenues for local communities.

Tripoli: National Heart Center receives MRI scanner

Written by LS on . Posted in News. No Comments on Tripoli: National Heart Center receives MRI scanner

The National Heart Center in Tajoura received a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanner from the Ministry of Health.

The new scanner is expected to raise the level of performance of the center and reduce the burden on the citizen and patients in the region.

According to the administration of the center, it is the first MRI scanner to be installed in the center.

Pandemic starts to surge in conflict-hit Libya

Written by LS on . Posted in News. No Comments on Pandemic starts to surge in conflict-hit Libya

As coronavirus cases surge in Libya, medics and officials working with a health system wrecked by years of division and war are warning that the pandemic could be slipping out of their control.

The conflict has also restricted movement within Libya, and confirmed cases remained low during the first months of the outbreak.

Hotspots include the capital Tripoli and the large port city of Misrata in the west, and the city of Sabha in the south.

Medics say the virus is spreading because people have carried on attending large gatherings including weddings and funerals, and are not practising physical distancing.

Ahmed al-Hasi, spokesman for the state medical committee responsible for countering the virus in eastern Libya, said the public needed to take precautions, or else medical staff with limited resources would become overwhelmed.

“They need to know that the virus is real, the casualties are real, the deaths are real,” Hasi said.

In Hay al-Andalus, an upscale suburb of Tripoli, Mayor Mohamed al-Fataisi told reporters the situation had become “dangerous”, adding: “We are unable to contain the disease.”

Night-time curfews across the country are often not respected, and there is a requirement to wear face masks in public spaces in western Libya but not in the east. The two parts of the country are run by separate administrations.

A sharp fall in living standards has anyway left many struggling to afford even minor expenses, including masks.

“People are asked to wear masks and use (santitising) alcohol, but no one knows that they have not been paid salaries,” said Abduladeem Mohamed, a Tripoli taxi driver. “I prefer to buy bread for my children.”

German Foreign Minister Urges End to Oil Facilities Blockade

Written by LS on . Posted in News. No Comments on German Foreign Minister Urges End to Oil Facilities Blockade

Libya’s National Oil Corporation (NOC) said German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas stressed the need for an immediate end to the blockade of oil facilities in Libya at a meeting in Tripoli on Monday.

NOC chairman Mustafa Sanalla met Maas and they discussed the economic and environmental damage of the blockade, NOC said in a statement. Maas stressed “the need for immediate end to the blockade and Germany’s support for NOC’s efforts to restore production,” the statement said.

Bumtari:” the government was forced to violate the commercial law”

Written by LS on . Posted in News. No Comments on Bumtari:” the government was forced to violate the commercial law”

During a televised interview for Libyan WTV channel and Tabadul Platform, the Libyan Finance Minister of the Government of National Accord, Faraj Bumatari, accused the Central bank of Libya of insisting on creating a gap between the official exchange rate and the black market exchange rate.

“The government was forced to violate the commercial law … this unjustified violation came as a result of a monetary policy that was not successful in leveraging its role.” Boumtari stressed .

He added that he has been communicating with the Central in many correspondence without getting Reply

Bumtari added that he addressed numerous correspondences with the Central Bank, but to no avail. ” we’ve hit a dead end, I could not find a solution.” He stressed, adding that it is time to fight this corrupt system.

According to the minister, the Central Bank should be placed under pressure –  and not the government- in order to activate its banking instruments.

“We have discovered fake customs papers that claimed to supply household items while the shipment included tramadol.” Bumtari said, adding that the medical bill shrank from 185m to 29m after holding the ministerial portfolio.

Bumtari accused certain groups that are close to the Central Bank of tampering with the bills of medical treatment abroad, confirming that the Libyan market includes a parallel market, smuggling operations and several defects that hinder the removal of subsidies.

According to the minister, the Central Bank did not adhere to the economic reform plan in Libya.