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By Libya Herald reporter.
Malta, 14 January 2015:
At yesterday’s cabinet meeting of Prime Minister Abdullah Thinni’s government, the only internationally recognized government . . .[restrict]in Libya, an allocation of LD 250 million was approved to the Ministry of Health for the ‘’purchase of medicines, equipment and medical supplies’’.
These purchases are to include ‘’vaccines, dialysis medicines and medical supplies for emergencies’’, the government report stated without giving any further details.
The meeting discussed the need for the provision of these and the ‘’importance of these medical needs in light of the health situation currently gripping the country’’.
It was not clear whether the Thinni government currently has access to LD 250 million in view of the lack of liquidity available to the government and the fact that no budget has been approved for 2015.
The meeting nevertheless, referred the decision to the Finance Ministry ‘’to take charge of coordinating on the matter with the Ministry of Health’’.
It is worth recalling that although the Central Bank of Libya (CBL) is refusing to release money from the 2014 budget for any new projects, it is currently still (just about) releasing money for the two areas it approves, which are salaries and subsidized goods.
Any medical products that can be classified as ‘’medicines’’ will receive approval as medicines are subsidized in Libya. New hardware would probably be classified as projects/new investments, and hence non-urgent, and are less likely to receive funding approval from the CBL. [/restrict]
