In its periodic statement, the Central Bank of Libya revealed a deficit in total revenues in the first eight months of this year by 2.837 billion dinars.
The bank indicated that the value of the deficit in foreign exchange revenues amounted to $ 6.3 billion, which was covered from the central reserves.
The statement held Haftar’s militias responsible for the closure of ports and oil fields , and this deficit after the value of financial losses exceeded the barrier of 9 billion dollars.
Before the oil closures
Before the closure of Haftar’s militias, of the oil, the total sovereign and oil revenues last year reached 30.622 billion dinars, with a financial surplus of 2.205 billion dinars, without a deficit.
While the Central Bank of Libya recorded total revenues in 2018 of 35.9 billion dinars, while foreign exchange sales for all purposes achieved $ 19.1 billion, i.e. a surplus of $ 5.4 billion.
Deterioration of Conditions
This tampering with the country’s capabilities by Haftar’s militia led to an increase in substantial losses, and a rise in the exchange rate of the dollar in the parallel market to touch the barrier of seven dinars to one dollar, which negatively affected the lives of Libyans in light of the spread of the Corona virus in the country.
The oil shutdown also resulted in stopping the supply of gas to power plants in the Eastern Region, which resulted in power cuts for long hours.
For the first time since Haftar’s seizure and control of the eastern regions, a flame of protests and demonstrations came out denouncing the difficult living situation, demanding accountability for the corrupt, and combating corruption that has spread in the country.
A protester was killed in the city of Al-Marj and others were wounded by armed Haftar militants after a demonstration in the city.
Haftar’s intransigence
Despite all the protests in the eastern and western regions about the deterioration of the living situation, Haftar is still intransigent and insists on closing the main source of income for the Libyans without any sense of responsibility, as he and his children enjoy prosperity.
The US embassy in Libya announced, last Sunday, that Haftar has committed to resuming pumping oil no later than the 12th of this month, but the situation has remained as it is until now.
The National Oil Corporation, last July, accused the UAE of being behind the shutdown of oil and tampering with the livelihood of the Libyans.
