By Sami Zaptia.
Tripoli, 18 July 2013:
Asked about the progress in subsidy reform at yesterday’s press conference, Prime Minister Ali Zeidan said . . .[restrict]that it was smugglers that were prospering from subsidies, not the general public.
Asked by the media as to how much progress had been made with regards to the GNC’s and Zeidan government’s plans to reform the subsidies programme, the Prime Minister said that LD 11 billion was being spent on subsidies.
The Prime Minister gave little new details beyond saying that his government was taking steps in the reform of subsidies. He stressed that the plan was to swap the subsidy of goods into cash subsidies.
Asked if he was worried that if his government was to remove the subsidies it might cause its downfall, as was the case in Jordan, Zeidan reiterated his lack of concern about maintaining power. [/restrict]
