The Parliament of Eastern Libya unanimously approved the budget for the current year on Tuesday, April 30. And this, for a value of 90 billion Libyan dinars ($18.5 billion); except one position intended for development projects.
The budget is allocated to the Benghazi-based government of Osama Hammad, who came to power in March 2023 and is allied with military commander Khalifa Haftar, who controls the east and much of Libya’s southern region.
There is a separate government of national unity based in Tripoli. Which is led by interim Prime Minister Abdelhamid Dbaiba, who was appointed through a UN-backed process in 2021.
Meanwhile, MP Aicha Al-Tabalqi said the development projects item had been excluded from the budget. Because “the government has asked for 30 billion dinars for three years, but Parliament wants more details on the projects to be approved”.
It is unclear whether the governor of the Central Bank of Libya in Tripoli, Al-Seddik Al-Kabir, will hand over the funds to Mr. Hammad’s government. It is the only internationally recognized depository institution for Libyan oil revenues, which represent the country’s vital economic income.
In February, Al-Kabir called for the formation of a new unified government and a national budget, clearly challenging his former ally Mr. Dbaiba on government spending. Just as he called for an end to what he described as parallel spending from unknown sources.
Mr. Dbaiba, who is no longer recognized by Benghazi’s House of Representatives, has pledged not to cede power to a new government without holding national elections.
Thus, the political process aimed at ending a more than ten-year-old conflict in Libya has failed since the failure of elections scheduled for December 2021, amid disagreements over the eligibility of the main candidates and electoral laws.
The dispute over control of government and state revenues, as well as a political solution to end the years-long violent chaos, threatens to return Libya to administrative division and war.
Moreover, in his briefing to the Security Council this month, the UN special envoy, Abdoulaye Bathily, urged the Libyan authorities to “rapidly agree on a national budget and to remedy decisive to significant shortcomings.
Furthermore, Mr. Bathily, who submitted his resignation to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, said: “The economic situation in Libya has become extremely tense, amid warnings from the Central Bank of Libya of a financial crisis. imminent liquidity”.
