By Sami Zaptia.
London, 22 January 2017:
The Presidency Council/Government of National Accord’s Ministry of Finance (MoF) has confirmed to Libya Herald that the Central Bank of Libya (CBL) has indeed deposited the LD 4.8 bn into its treasury account today.
The MoF also confirmed today that PC/GNA Minister of Finance-designate Osama Hamad had issued instructions to all his departments to make disbursements to all relevant state sectors within a period not exceeding a week from today.
Today’s announcement came after the MoF was forced to write a letter last week to the CBL Governor demanding that the CBL releases the LD 4.8 bn agreed in the Temporary Financial Arrangement (budget) to its treasury account immediately.
The CBL, Audit Bureau, NOC, PC/GNA and international mediators had agreed to LD 37.56 bn budget in December.
The letter had stressed that the requested amount corresponds to the amount agreed upon in the schedule for the first quarter of 2017 which was supposed to have been released into the treasury account by 10 January.
| Q1 2017 budget released to PC/GNA by CBL today | In LD billion |
| Chapter 1 – State salaries | 3.5 |
| Chapter 2 – Operation costs | 0.45 |
| Chapter 3 – Development/Projects | 0.20 |
| Chapter 4 – State subsidies | 0.65 |
| Total: | 4.8 |
The MoF says that the money is needed urgently in order that the MoF can start disbursing obligations and avoid blockages in the first quarter for payment of state-sector salaries, to hospitals, the NOC and other urgent disbursements.
There had been a fear that the CBL, for one reason or another, might not release the agreed money. However, the release of some money by the CBL for the Faiez Serraj PC/GNA should enable the beleaguered internationally-recognized Libyan government to start achieving some traction and results on the ground by solving some of the myriad of problems the country faces.
