Libya’s Central Bank Announces $7.3Bn Shortfall In Foreign Receipts

The Central Bank of Libya (BCL) has announced a shortfall of $7.3 billion in foreign receipts for the January-October 2020 period as a result of a blockade that was imposed on the country’s oilfields by forces of Marshal Khalifa Haftar.

According to the BCL, the deficit has been covered with withdrawals from the Bank’s foreign exchange reserves.

The blockade reduced oil production by 800,000 barrels a day from more than the 1.2 million barrels daily output and deprived the state of its main source of revenue.

In a revenue and expenditure report published on Friday for the 1 January to 30 October period, the CBL said that “total foreign exchange revenues reached US$ 3.8 billion including $2.051 billion for oil exports in 2019”.

Direct loss from the cessation of oil production and exports during the same period amounted to about $11 billion, while total oil revenue amounted to 5.271 billion dinars (about $ 3.819 billion).

Libyan oil exports resumed in September following an agreement between the Government of National Accord and the Libyan National Army to restore production after an interruption of about nine months.

According to the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Libyan National Oil Company (NOC), Mustapha Sanalla, the resumption has allowed “a rapid return to previous production averages of 1.250 million barrels per day, which is about the same production level that the Company and its affiliates achieved before the closures”.