The Libyan government estimates that its budget deficit will reach $10 billion this year, leading to serious challenges in paying government employees and the country’s energy bill, said Mustafa Abdul Jalil, Chairman of the National Transitional Council. He said that Libya has only reclaimed a minute fraction of its $100 billion in assets frozen during last year’s bitter revolution.
Abdul Jalil said that oil revenues have brought in only $4 billion in the past five months, while government employee wages and the energy bill will cost the government $22 billion and $14 billion, respectively. Therefore, the government estimated that its budget deficit will be around $10 billion in 2012.
The IMF has said that recovery of the oil and gas sector is critical to Libya’s reconstruction efforts and the revitalization of the economy.
Abdurrahim El-Keib, Libya's interim prime minister, stated that his government has allocated 12 billion dinars to development efforts, 3 billion of which will go to reconstructing homes demolished or damaged during the eight-month war.
(Source: Nuqudy, Al-Bawaba)
