Today, Thursday, the businessman Husni Bey said in an exclusive statement to our source that during the 22 years since Shukri Ghanem was appointed as Minister of Economy in 2000 and succeeded by Al-Tayeb Al-Safi and after him Ali Al-Issawi, Mohamed Al-Huwaij and many other ministers of economy and trade, several committees were assigned and recommended that the support should be exchanged for cash.
Bey added that in 2012 the National Congress was elected and committees were assigned that concluded with the necessity of change and monetary replacement. A budget for 2013 was approved, and the 2013 Budget Law stipulated that “support should be replaced from direct to cash” during the budget year, “but the smuggling mafia succeeded in not applying that,” noting that in 2014, the National Congress approved the annual budget and approved the cash replacement immediately, but the smuggling mafia and the Prime Minister at that time, Ali Zeidan , did not take any action to implement the budget law as stipulated in 2014, wondering whether the fuel smuggling mafia is stronger than the parliament and government.
The businessman addressed the Parliament and its members, the State Council and its members, and the Prime Minister: “Let’s stop establishing committees and start instead searching for the decision to change now and immediately.”
Husni Bey explained that replacement revives the economy, achieves social justice, and brings 80% of the Libyan people out from below the poverty line. In addition, it achieves rationalization of consumption, achieves a surplus for citizens’ rights, and reduces the import of fuel, pointing out that it achieves security and political stability, reduces conflict on the paths and sources of storage and smuggling of fuels, reduces congestion on public roads, encourages private investment in public transport, produces and achieves spatial economies.
The businessman appealed to the committee formed to study the mechanism of replacing direct fuel support with cash support that the issue does not need to be studied, but rather needs to approve “the total and immediate cash replacement.”
Bey indicated that “there are imported fuels and locally produced fuels, and there is no difference between them at the real cost. As for the total fuel consumed in Libya, it is 10.4 million tons of naphtha, gasoline and heavy oils, adding 3 million tons of natural gas so that the total is 13.4 million tons consumed in Libya annually.
The imported of the total consumed is 13.4 million tons, with a value of more than 7 billion dollars, and the total in tons is from 6 million to 6.5 million tons. As for the locally produced fuels and gas, it is from 6.9 to 7.4 million tons, and its value is 8.4 billion dollars.”