By Moutaz Ali.
Tripoli, 12 June 2014:
Libya’s caretaker government has called on the Central Bank of Libya (CBL) to transfer the account . . .[restrict]of the “Set Aside Money” to the general income account of the government in order to enable it to fulfill financial requirements. The government also agains asked for the letter from Congress President’ Nuri Abu Sahmain to the CBL freezing all financial procedures of the government to be ignored.
This announcement followed yesterday’s cabinet meeting in Tripoli. The cabinet had complained that the drop in oil exports since July 2013 had blocked its ability to pay for projects and affected the running of many of the country’s facilities.
The cabinet stated that aside from the oil income, there was “Set Aside Money”, established in 1993 by the Qaddafi regime, which could now be used to solve Libya’s financial crisis. Moreover, the cabinet criticised the CBL, which has said that the money was for the future generations. The cabinet said that Libya’s international investments, in addition to the national oil reserves, were the real guarantees for future generations.
The government insisted that, under the country’s financial laws, treasury funds essentially belongs to the state through the Finance Ministry.
“We are optimistic of getting a positive response from both the CBL and the GNC because this matter touches the daily lives of all Libyans,” government spokesman Ahmed Lamin told Libya Herald/ [/restrict]
