By George Grant.
Tripoli, 29 November:
The GNC’s Budget, Planning and Finance Committee is preparing to activate the decision to grant every Libyan . . .[restrict]family 1,000 dinars to help cover the costs of Eid Al-Adha which started on 25 October.
Resolution 64 (2012) was passed on 18 November, although the decision to distribute the funds was announced on 10 October by GNC Spokesman Omar Hmaidan. It was said at the time that the funds would not be ready for disbursement for at least two months.
At a meeting of the Budget, Planning and Finance Committee on Wednesday, during which the legislation was reviewed, it was determined that authorisation would be granted to the Central Bank to proceed with disbursing the funds in the next two weeks. In its current form, Law 64 does not state the exact sum to be granted to Libyan families.
The legislation marks the third time that the authorities have decided to make a payment to the population at large since last year’s revolution.
In February the NTC announced a one-off payment of LD 2,000 to every family to celebrate the first anniversary of the revolution. The payments took several months to be made owing to the lack of a functioning database, but it is hoped this latest round of payments will be processed more efficiently now that the system is up and running.
Also in February, the NTC resolved to pay every revolutionary who had fought in last year’s war, with LD 4,000 going to married fighters and LD 2,400 to unmarried ones. The scheme quickly descended into chaos with some revolutionaries not getting paid while payments were made to names who never existed in the first place. In April, the government was forced to temporarily suspend payments in order to implement more rigorous identification criteria.
Most recently, the GNC also approved in principle plans to give every family a monthly allowance. Exact figures are not due to be discussed until January although it has been suggested that every family would receive between LD 300-500 with an additional amount of between LD 50–100 for every dependent mentioned in the Family Book. [/restrict]
