Libya’s factional government announces plans to end fuel subsidy
BENGHAZI – Libya’s factional government in Benghazi has announced plans to end fuel subsidy.
The Benghazi based government said in a statement on Wednesday that it had agreed on a proposal to end the fuel subsidy and would prepare a mechanism to implement the agreement.
The administration headed by Osama Hamad, a rival to the internationally recognised government based in Tripoli, did not disclose further details about the proposal, and it is unclear how it will implement the proposal in the divided country.
In Libya a litre of gasoline costs just 0.150 Libyan dinars ($0.03), the second-cheapest in the world according to the Global Petrol Prices online tracker.
Smuggling networks have flourished amid the political turmoil and armed conflict that followed the 2011 killing of former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, backed by western countries. The country has remained split since then.
The subsidy-scrapping proposal was approved by Hamad in Benghazi in a meeting with the deputy governor of the Tripoli-based Central Bank of Libya (CBL), Mari Barrasi, and four members of the bank’s board of directors. The meeting was held at the CBL’s Benghazi branch headquarters.
Hamad was appointed in 2023 by the eastern parliament to replace Abdulhamid Dbeibah, who was installed through a U.N.-backed process in 2021, but the parliament said had lost legitimacy.
Tripoli-based Interim Prime Minister
Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh said in January that he would put the issue of removing fuel subsidies to a public survey, but has since taken no further action.
The cost of fuel subsidies from January to November of this year totalled 12.8 billion Libyan dinars, CBL data shows. The official exchange rate is 4.8 Libyan dinars to $1.
