By Sami Zaptia.
London, 16 October 2019:
The Tripoli-based Ministry of Economy announced today that it was reducing subsidies on kerosene (paraffin) for commercial and industrial use.
The move is a historic move as there have been calls for the reduction of all of Libya’s subsidies a serious move in the direction of economic reforms and in fighting fuel smuggling.
The Ministry set the new price at LD 0.85, which it says is the cost of the production of kerosene to the state. This, however, is still well below the current black-market rate for kerosene which at times reached around LD 2.00 per litre.
Demand has been very high for kerosene and diesel as the Libyan state’s ongoing failure to generate enough electricity has led to an explosion in the use of heaters and power generators.
The Ministry said that it will soon implement the reform of prices of all other fuels, including petrol, once it starts to implement the planned cash subsidy-substitution policy.
