Baku, Azerbaijan, July 29
By Aygun Badalova - Trend:
Libya produced 500,000 barrels of oil a day in 2015 and exported almost 450,000 barrels per day, according to the World Bank’s latest MENA Quarterly Economic Brief, “Whither Oil Prices?” report.
In the report’s section on how Libya is reacting to low oil prices, Worls Bank noted that the government approved a budget of about 42.9 billion LYD with exports of half a million barrels per day of oil (more than half of its exports in 2012) with a price of $50 a barrel.
In response to low oil prices, some austerity measures have been taken, but at the same time the government is rewarding public employees in the education sector with 300 Dinars ($219) in extra pay, according to the report.
The fiscal deficit has reached a record high, estimated at 60 % of GDP in 2016, the report said.
“The Tripoli government has resorted to the Central Bank’s reserves which have been falling to $70 billion in 2016 from $120 billion in 2012. If the trend continues, Libya will run out of reserves in less than 4 years,” it noted.
According to the latest OPEC data, Libya produced 332,000 barrels oil per day in June compared to 271,000 barrels per day in May. In end 2015, the country produced 401,000 barrels per day.
Since 2014, Libya has been split between rival governments and parliaments based in the western and eastern regions, each backed by different militias and tribes.
Last month the country’s rival governments in the east and west agreed to merge their competing oil companies. The agreement was hailed as a positive step and some even predicted Libya could quickly double its oil production.