Azerbaijan , Baku, Sept. 22 / Trend A. Isgandarov /
Libya 's future rulers will be able to enjoy an unexpected windfall of 23 billion dollars worth of assets which were unspent by the regime of Moamer Gaddafi, dpa cited the Financial Times.
The unspent assets were found in Libyan state coffers this month, said the FT, quoting officials in Tripoli and London.
"These are internal assets found on the Central bank of Libya balance sheet that should put them in gravy until well into next year. It takes the pressure off them to get overseas assets unfrozen," a British official told the FT.
For Libya's new rulers, it was "the equivalent of discovering several billion dollars under the mattress," the official added. The find would come close to doubling the domestic assets which have hitherto been estimated at 25 billion dollars.
Much of Libya's estimated 160 billion dollars of foreign assets remains frozen under sanctions imposed against the Gaddafi regime.
On February 25, 2011, President Obama signed an executive order declaring such an emergency with respect to Libya, finding that the Qaddafi government's use of violence against unarmed civilians--and the risk that Libyan state assets would be misappropriated--undermined Libya's security and stability, constituting an "unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States." The president ordered a freeze on "all property and interests in property" of the government of Libya, its agencies, instrumentalities, controlled entities, and the Central Bank of Libya in the United States or otherwise in the custody or control of U.S. persons. (The order also blocked the assets of certain individuals.)
Mass demonstrations demanding for the ouster of Qaddafi, who has been ruling the country for more than 40 years, started in Libya in mid-February and subsequently grew into armed confrontation between the government forces and the rebels.