2024-08-02 04:14:21
The country is experiencing many economic challenges that are expressed in numbers, from high inflation and rising commodity prices, at a time when financial problems are escalating and their effects are clearly evident in the daily lives of citizens.
Regarding these challenges and the reality of the Libyan economic scene, the “Ain Libya” network conducted a special interview with the founder of the stock market, economic expert Suleiman Al-Shahoumi.
Al-Shahoumi described the economic scene in Libya as “confused and complex at the same time,” attributing the reasons to the current political form, with the presence of two governments, and in light of the existence of large spending without any clear vision, strategy, plans, and programs to organize, develop, and qualify the issue of spending.
Regarding the Libyan public financial management, Al-Shahoumi considered that “there is great confusion, especially among the institutions responsible for collecting sovereign revenues, especially oil revenues,” noting that “there is a crisis of credibility in the data, and the institutions’ failure to rely on legal foundations in managing public money, which has negatively affected the economic reality and exacerbated its confusion.”
Al-Shahoumi noted that “reading between the lines of the recently issued budget approval indicates without a doubt that the issue of public financial management and controlling spending is not a priority in the current Libyan economic scene.”
Regarding the economic school to which the Libyan economy belongs, Al-Shahoumi said: “It is a rentier economy, based primarily on oil revenues, while the contribution of other revenues is very small, according to what Al-Shahoumi stated.”
He added: “The current economic form is a kind of mixture (hybrid) between the socialist and capitalist forms of the economy. There is a private sector operating, but its tax contribution is very weak despite the large transfers in foreign currency, in addition to its limited contribution to the development process in the country.”
The economic expert said: “The public sector is not in a better condition than the private sector, as corruption is entrenched in its aspects, and it needs rehabilitation and structural reorganization of all its sectors.”
In light of all these challenges facing the economic reality, Al-Shahoumi said, “What is required is to develop an economic vision and a future plan, and this requires political and institutional stability as well as legislative stability.”
Commenting on the issue of the Libyan dinar against the dollar, Al-Shahoumi stressed, “It is an issue with many real complexities and has gone through many turns. The Central Bank raised the exchange rate about two years ago under the pretext that it would conduct a gradual review and return to the exchange rate, and within the framework of its efforts to control the market, but it was unable to achieve its goal, and the parallel market or the black market returned as a result of the Central Bank’s inability to perform its role.”
Regarding the issue of frozen funds abroad, Al-Shahoumi pointed out that “it was done in accordance with a UN Security Council resolution, and therefore lifting the freeze also requires the issuance of a Security Council resolution and the approval of the Sanctions Committee in the first phase. This file is still a subject of conflict, and there were previous attempts to release these funds, but they failed.”
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2024-08-02 04:14:21