By Sami Zaptia.
Tripoli, 8 April 2014:
The Libyan Investment Authority (LIA), Libya’s sovereign wealth fund, presented its 2013 annual report to the Audit Bureau last week, the Audit Bureau reports.
The presentation was attended by, amongst others, the Audit Bureau head Khalid Shakshak, GNC LIA Committee member Asia Megherbi, Central Bank of Libya Governor Sadik El-Kabir, LIA head Abdulmajid Briesh, as well as representatives of the NOC, the Libyan Foreign Bank and the Administrative Control Authority.
During the presentation, the head of the LIA Abdulmajid Briesh reviewed the activities of the LIA and its international and domestic investments as part of the LIA’s 2013 Annual Report. Briesh also made a presentation of how the LIA would be transformed into a global sovereign wealth fund that would support the future of Libya.
For his part, Audit Bureau head Khalid Shakshak said that his Bureau would endeavour to help create an enabling environment for all institutions to study the investment portfolio in Libya.
The LIA, estimated to be managing domestic and international funds of the value of US$ 60 bn by Forbes last week, reports that its main task is to “contribute to the development of resources and diversification of the Libyan economy by creating an alternative financial source to oil that would reduce future dependence on the latter as the sole source of national income”.
It also aims to “reduce the fluctuation of income and other revenues of the Libyan state, and invest in the range of net annual return on investment, so as to maintain its assets to support the general budget when necessary”.
Finally, it hopes to “assure the future of next generations through savings and investment over the long term”.
Following liberation in 2011, the LIA says that it has began a restructuring process of its foreign investment sector with the help of international consulting firms. This process was to assess the LIA’s assets and prepare for a systematic plan for long-term foreign and domestic investments in line with the Authority’s vision and mission.
The LIA has recently filed lawsuits in London against Goldman Sachs for poor consultancy and Societe Generale for alleged corruption. [/restrict] [/restrict]
