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By Sami Zaptia.
London, 12 August 2019:
The Tripoli Central Bank of Libya (CBL) reported on Saturday that Libya’s oil revenues were up by LD 1.958 bn on budget projections from LD 15.4 bn to LD 17.358 bn for the period 01/01/2019 to 31/07/2019.
Oil revenues made up 92 percent of all budget revenues – highlighting Libya’s continued hydrocarbon dependency.
Revenues from the surcharge on the official sale of hard currency which were introduced in September 2018 as part of wider economic reforms were up by LD 5.123 bn from a projected LD 9.217 bn to LD 14.340 bn.
Revenues from tax, customs duties, communications (mobile phone and internet state companies), CBL profits and local fuel sales were all down considerably on 2019 budget projects, the CBL’s latest statistical bulletin revealed.
State outgoings were down in total by LD 3.653 bn from a projected LD 27.3 bn to LD 23.647 bn. This included the three chapters of state salaries, operational costs, and development. Subsidies were up.
However, whilst state sector salaries were down by LD 1.002 bn from a projected 14.810 to LD 13,808 bn, they still made up a huge 58 percent of the state budget – clearly reflecting the rentier state status of Libya and depriving any investment in development projects.
The development/projects budget made up only 5.3 percent of the budget and was down by LD 1.672 bn from LD 2.917 to LD 1.245 bn. The subsidies part of the budget was up by LD 372 from LD 3.938 bn to LD 4.310 bn.
LD 2.45 bn of subsidies went to subsidising fuel, LD 991 million for the Medical Supply Organization (MSO), the central state medical purchasing arm, LD 478 million on electricity subsidies, LD 239 million on public cleaning and LD 152 on water and sewage.
The Tripoli CBL stressed as usual that these figures cover all of Libya, including the semi-autonomous eastern Libya.
