Government does not recognize subsidy reform, follows austerity and priority plan – Economy Minister Aser

By Libya Herald reporter.

Tunis, 1 June 2015:

Speaking at the Abdullah Thinni government press conference held in the eastern city of Al-Beida on Sunday, Economy Minister Munir Aser repeated his Ministry’s mantra that the ‘’government is not an entrepreneur and where there is development there is security’’.

He also repeated that the very difficult situation his exiled government finds itself in, forced to work without all the data and backing bureaucracy it was forced to leave behind, We are working in n very difficult conditions and under accusations of treason and under suspicion’’should be kept in mind.

”When we took office, we had a basic problem of shortages in the strategic staple foodstuffs: cooking oil, flour, tomato paste and rice”.

”There was also no approved budget for imports. We called upon some respected business people who took it upon themselves to supply some of the produce on terms of a years’ credit enabling us to provide flour for the bread bakeries’’

Aser assured that his legitimate government does not support the subsidy reform announced by the illegitimate government of Tripoli. He assured the public that the time for subsidy substitution has not arrived as this needs research and study of finance, monetary and commercial policy.

This will happen in the future after study so that the citizen is not negatively affected. Subsidies will continue and quantities of foodstuffs will arrive at the food cooperatives before the start of the fasting month of Ramadan, Aser assured.

The subsidy reform decisions by Tripoli are illegitimate and those who take these decisions should face the consequences in the future. The decisions were made to cause instability and insecurity in the country, he added.

Regarding remarks made by the Audit Bureau and Administrative Control Authority the Minister noted that these did not reach the level of official notices or penalties or crimes and that his Ministry had replied to these comments.

There was no evidence of corruption he stressed despite the false rumours circulating. He assured that his ministry is still ready to be questioned on any comments by the monitoring bodies.

”The government will not impose on any future government any obligations or debts. We are able to tickle everyone’s emotions with contracts and things that a future government would have to face, forcing it to fix our mistakes. But we are following austerity policies dealing with priorities and history will be the ultimate proof’’ [/restrict]