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By Sami Zaptia.
London, 18 April 2017:
The Serraj-led Presidency Council announced the appointment of its new Minister of Economy yesterday. The position had been vacant. Naser Fadelallah Aoun, took office on Monday, in accordance with the mandate of the Presidential Council, the press release reported.
No photo had been released of Aoun but the press statement noted that Libyan ‘‘citizens were expecting a lot’’ from Aoun in order to ‘‘solve the economic issues and address the bottlenecks that weigh on the citizen, including activating the budget, and providing (subsidized) commodities at affordable prices’’.
Aoun, who is from the east of Libya, holds a PhD in Economics and Financial Policy from the University of Cairo and is a member of the teaching staff at the University of Omar Mukhtar in Benghazi. He had also previously worked in the banking sector, the PC press release reported.
Libya Herald asked various businessmen, business organizations and politicians about Aoun, but he seems to have had a low profile as no one had heard of him.
It is telling that with all the acute economic problems that Libya is suffering, with many analysts thinking that Libya’s political struggles are no more than struggles for economic empowerment, that it has taken the PC over a year into office to nominate its Minister for Economy.
