A fund of 7 billion Libyan dinars [$5.6 billion] is to allocated to new ventures in Libya.
Abdulmonem Alyaser [Al Yaser], GNC member for Khoms and member of the National Security Committee, told Libya Herald that this amount should be spent on SME and large-sized joint venture projects in solar power, cement, steel, agriculture and tourism.
He said that according to the Warriors Affairs Commission (WAC) database, there are about 50,000 who expressed an interest in starting their own businesses and in total 89,000 who wanted to be in the private sector generally, whether in the SME sector or large business. However, Alyaser feels that very few of those wishing to start their own businesses posses the commercial, skills or management capability to succeed with their projects.
He believes that it is more realistic to expect to employ 50,000 initially through the 7-billion joint venture programs, which if they were to be 50/50 partnerships between a Libyan state-owned holding company and other Libyan and foreign investors, would result in a total investment as high as LD 14 billion.
According to the report from Libya Herald, WAC have proposed a programme aimed at training and funding 5,000 SME projects in 2013, subject to obtaining funding. Alyaser believes that this number is too small to make an immediate impact on Libya’s current problems and represents only 10 per cent the number of people that need to be trained and employed.
He says that there should instead be investment in large national projects in solar power, cement, steel, agriculture and tourism.
(Source: Libya Herald)
