On Friday, the UN mission in Libya announced the agreement of the participants in the Libyan Economic Working Group emanating from the International Follow-up Committee, to finance the urgent expenditures of the 2021 budget, and to finalize the development of a unified and integrated budget, as soon as possible, pending the achievement of the expected unification of the executive authority.
The mission added, according to its official website, that the working group agreed to implement measures to alleviate the banking crisis, including reducing the backlog of cheques, and addressing the issue of high costs of basic commodities, including bread.
The mission explained that among the terms of the agreement is ensuring that there is sufficient funding for urgent expenditures, including salaries, the health sector, the needs for maintaining the infrastructure of the National Oil Corporation, and rapid investment in electricity installations.
The mission indicated that the group’s joint-presidency meeting included the Acting Secretary-General of the United Nations, Stephanie Williams, and representatives of Egypt, the United States and the European Union in addition to the Governor of the Central Bank, Al-Siddiq Al-Kabeer, Minister of Finance, Faraj Boumtari, and his counterpart, Auditor Ghaith, as well as senior diplomats representatives of Member states of the Berlin Conference and experts from the Libyan Economic Dialogue, the US Treasury, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.
The mission confirmed that it was agreed to hold a meeting for the Central Bank of Libya and the Ministry of Finance to address these important issues next Monday.
It is worth noting that a delegation from the GNA and the parallel government in Al-Bayda agreed on the 13th of January during their meeting in Breqa to unify the 2021 budget, and pay off stalled debts and salaries.
