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By Sami Zaptia.
London, 9 July 2020:
Libya’s state revenues continued their downward spiral in light of its oil blockade since January this year, the Tripoli Central Bank of Libya (CBL) reported in its 01/01/20 to 30/06/20 bulletin on Tuesday. The state National Oil Corporation (NOC) reported potential losses of over US$ 6bn to date.
Revenues
Actual oil revenues for the period were down by LD 835 million to LD 2.165 bn, from a forecast LD 3 bn. Tax revenues were down by LD 361 million from a forecast LD 650 million to LD 289 million. Customs revenues were down by LD 121 million from a forecast LD 200 million to LD 79 million.
The mysterious case of state telecommunications revenues continues to baffle, coming in at zero from a forecast LD 200 million. CBL profits contributed LD 150 million to spending during the period. Domestic fuel revenues contributed LD 100 million from a forecast LD 200 million, while other state revenues contributed LD 191 million from a forecast LD 364 million. The Jihad tax contributed, as forecast, LD 83 million.
Total state revenues came in down by LD 1.790 bn, at LD 3.057 bn from a forecast LD 4.847 bn. The CBL granted the government a loan to cover the deficit of LD 13.353 bn. Meanwhile, LD 1.050 bn were spent on the development/projects section of the budget from the foreign currency surcharge.
This surcharged, introduced as part of the 2018 reforms, earnt the state a total of LD 11.6 bn for the period – LD 10.5 of which were allocated to cover some of the recurring state budget.
Spending
On the spending side, state-sector wages were still the single biggest budget outgoing at 59 percent. They amounted to LD 9,213 bn, down LD 1.687 bn from the forecast LD 10.900 bn. Operational spending was also down by LD 813 million to LD 1,187 bn (8 percent) from a forecast LD 2.000 bn. Spending on development projects were a miserly LD 579 (4 percent), down from a forecast LD 1,050 bn by LD 471 million. State subsidies were up by LD 71 million from a projected LD 2.8 bn to LD 2.871 bn (18 percent). The ‘‘Emergency Budget’’ was down by LD 705 million from a projected LD 2.5 bn to LD 1,795 bn (11 percent).
This brought the state’s total spending to LD 15,645 bn, down LD 3.65 bn on the projected LD 19.250 bn.
The CBL reported that it had allocated LD 1.5 bn to the Ministry of Health, of which LD 481 million was to fight the spread of the Coronavirus, LD 496 million went to the state Medical Supply Organization (MSO) and a further LD 512 million was in the process of being executed.
It also reported that it allocated LD 1.2 bn from the foreign currency surcharge to the National Oil Corporation for projects and development as part of the Tripoli government’s ‘‘Emergency Budget’’ (decree 1080/10) to the NOC.
The CBL noted that non-oil revenues were down on projections by 54 percent and urged the government to do more to improve this source.
Subsidies
The CBL reported that the subsidies outgoing included: LD 495 million to the MSO; LD 1.7 bn for fuel subsidies; LD 360 million for electricity; LD 115 million water and sanitation; LD 200 million for public cleaning.
Foreign currency revenues
The CBL also reported that the foreign currency deficit for the period was US$ 4.3 bn which was covered from CBL hard currency reserves. Actual hard currency revenues for the period was US$ 3.6 bn, with oil revenues from 2019 earning US$ 2.051 bn. The total US$ outgoing for the period were US$ 7.935.
