By Ahmed Elumami.
Tripoli, 25 March 2014:
The General National Congress (GNC) today voted to grant the government an emergency budget of LD . . .[restrict]2.5 billion to resolve problems, particularly security issues, that continue to hamper the development of the country.
Out of 76 Congress members, 65 voted to grant the government the funds at this morning’s GNC sitting. This emergency budget is effectively an advance payment from the 2014 budget which, as yet, has not been agreed upon by the GNC.
Sebha Congresswoman Nadi Rashied told the Libya Herald that the Congress members decided to give the government the emergency funds as a loan from the 2014 budget, which meant there was no need for a quorum to approve it as a law.
The funds will be spent in different areas, Rashied said. The government said it needed the money to work out several problems related to security issues in Benghazi, Derna, Sebha and Sirte. Money was also needed to help address problems within the Ministries of Defence and Interior as well as the eastern oil port crisis, she added.
Rashied said that the loan would be deducted from the government’s 2014 budget in instalments.
She added that giving the emergency funds to interim Prime Minister Abdullah Al-Thinni was also intended to spur on members of Congress to choose a new prime minister as soon as possible. [/restrict]
