The most prominent points in the speech of Tripoli based Libyan Prime Minister Abd Alhamid Aldabaiba at the ninth regular cabinet meeting of 2023 held Thursday in the city of Gharian were:
- We renew our position rejecting the Israeli occupation’s aggression against the Gaza Strip and the policy of systematic killing and extermination practiced against them.
- We allocated US$ 50 million in humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza out of solidarity and duty.
- We welcome the Security Council’s decision to extend the work of the United Nations mission in Libya, and we will open horizons for cooperation with it to complete the steps of the road map to end the transitional stages and in preparation for the elections.
- Our doors are open to regulatory authorities to monitor government spending on projects in various parts of the country.
- Parallel government (the internationally unrecognised Libyan government based in the east of Libya) spending exceeded more than 15 billion dinars and is not subject to any regulatory body, which contributed to hitting the hard currency (black) market.
- Parallel spending is not concerned with salaries and state financial budgets and is taken from the funds of depositors in commercial banks.
- Parallel spending encourages money laundering and smuggling operations and increases the demand for purchasing hard currency on the black market.
- We are committed to the monetary policies of the Central Bank of Libya to preserve the value of the Libyan dinar and the balance of the Libyan economy.
- After today, there will no longer be any corrugated metal roof school in our country. We are working to establish 10 schools, of which we have created 8 schools in the city of Gharian.
- The fuel subsidy numbers are frightening. Electricity takes 60% of the fuel subsidy, and the value of 40 billion dinars is the fuel subsidy for citizens.
It is worth pointing out that Aldabaiba chose to hold last Thursday’s cabinet meeting in Gharian after the city was briefly taken over by pro Khalifa Hafter Gharian militias who had fled the city with Hafter’s forces when the Tripoli government had retaken it. The city was soon returned under Tripoli-aligned forces.
