2024-04-01 10:03:23
Economics, politics and international relations advisor Ibrahim Qarada said that pumping and investing an amount of large size and influence in another country requires a sovereign political decision and not just an institutional decision.
This came in his comment on the news circulated by Egyptian news sites, some of which are close to the Egyptian government, that the Libyan Investment Authority will pump $5 billion (more than 30 billion Libyan dinars) into Egypt.
Qarada added in a special statement to “Ain Libya”: A huge number, the size of this amount, which constitutes nearly a quarter of oil export revenues, which range about $20 billion annually, or 7.5% of the value of Libyan investments abroad, estimated at $68 billion.
He pointed out that investing such an amount requires feasibility studies in terms of profitability, time, recovery, governmental and international guarantees, and political, economic and professional transparency.
Qarada continued: “Until this moment, the Libyan government has not declared and revealed to public opinion in a public and known manner the veracity of the news and procedures.”
He noted that if this investment was made, the amount of $5 billion would be in this political circumstance from which the Libyan state suffers from fragility and weakness, making the negotiating position and guarantees fraught with risks, and the Libyan economic circumstance in which the Central Bank expected a deficit in the balance of foreign trade payments of $7. One billion dollars in the year 2024 may be added to a deficit exceeding $11 billion in the year 2023, making the value and timing of this investment pumping into Egypt a negative and harmful impact on the Libyan economy, which can be experienced from price inflation, a change in the exchange rate, and deficits in the general budget.
He went on to say: “It was and still is better and more appropriate to pump this huge investment amount into the Libyan market through direct or joint investment with foreign companies in investment projects with the private sector and development projects with the public sector, which generates production and surplus value and creates real job opportunities to diversify and move the economy and reduce Unemployment raises the income levels of large segments of Libyans, a large percentage of whom suffer from low levels of income and are looking for work.”
He added: “Just as a practical example, the amount of 5 billion dollars is 5,000 million dollars. If it was divided into the amount of 1 million dollars or 6 million dinars, it would have been possible to lend it to the Libyan private or public sector to establish 5,000 industrial, service, or commercial projects, even if each project He employed only 20 Libyans (as a loan condition) to be able to employ and employ 100,000 Libyans, drawn from unemployment or disguised unemployment in the public sector.”
It is noteworthy that the Libya Africa Investment Portfolio had previously signed an agreement to establish a Libyan-Turkish company for petrochemical industries in order to build a factory to produce bitumen inside Libya, which is considered the basic component for producing asphalt, as confirmed by the Minister of Oil and Gas in the Government of National Unity, Muhammad Aoun, during a meeting with the Chairman of the Board of Directors. The portfolio, Mustafa Abu Nass, stressed the importance of the portfolio’s contribution to investment in the oil field in Libya.
The economic advisor concluded his statement by saying: “Here the issue of evaluating the issue and path of Libyan investments abroad emerges. After nearly 40 years, the question is how much and how did Libyan foreign investments contribute to the Libyan economy and how much do their returns contribute to the general budget?!”
Last updated: April 1, 2024 – 02:10
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2024-04-01 10:03:23