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Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry stressed on Monday to Mohamed Taher Siala, the minister of foreign affairs of the Government of National Accord (GNA) in Libya, Egypt's support for a "Libyan-Libyan" negotiated political solution, and readiness to work with the newly elected interim government.

The Egyptian foreign minister confirmed [to his Libyan counterpart] the fundamentals of the Egyptian stance towards the sisterly neighbour, Libya, to reach a Libyan-Libyan negotiated political solution that preserves its sovereignty and protects the resources of its people, a statement by the Egyptian foreign ministry read.

The meeting, which took place on the sidelines of the emergency meeting of Arab foreign ministers at the Arab League (AL) in Cairo, comes days after the UN-led Libyan Political Dialogue Forum chose a new interim prime minister, Abdel-Hamid Dbeibah, and a new head for the countrys Presidential Council, Mohammad Younes Menfi, a step that Egypt has hailed.

The Egyptian foreign ministry expressed to FM Siala Egypts readiness to work with the new interim Libyan government until an elected government takes over after the elections, which are scheduled in December.

The Arab foreign ministers tackled during the emergency meeting at the ALmeans to restore Arabs roles in confronting challenges in the region, including the crisis in Libya.

President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi this week hailed the developments in Libya as a step in the right direction.

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FM Shoukry tells Libyan counterpart Egypt ready to work with new interim government - Politics - Egypt - Ahram Online

The Libyan economy has recently been hit by four overlapping shocks: an intensifying conflict that suffocates economic activity, the closure of oil fields that puts the countrys major income-generating activity largely on hold, decreasing oil prices that reduce income from oil production in surviving fields, and the COVID-19 pandemic (with 3,438 confirmed cases and 73 deaths as of August 2020), which threatens to further suppress the economy.

The attack on Tripoli in early 2019 and the blockade of the countrys major oil ports and terminals in January 2020 generated the most serious political, economic, and humanitarian crisis faced by Libya since 2011. The economic impact was already felt in 2019 as real GDP growth slowed sharply to 2.5%, down from what seemed a promising steady recovery during 201718, with a record growth performance of 20.8% on average. As military confrontations escalated, oil production decreased from 1.2 million bpd in December 2019 bpd to 0.1 million bpd in April 2020, choking the lifeline of the economy.

In the absence of significant improvements on the ground, the economic downturn will deepen. If the inability, or severely limited capacity, to produce and export oil might well prevail over the rest of 2020 despite the recent efforts to restart the production, Libya is expected to produce a daily average of only 0.17 million barrels in 2020, which is less than one seventh of last years production. As a result, GDP is expected to shrink by 41% this year. The adopted budget for 2020 partially reflects this dire situation, with a large forecasted deficit, the highest in recent years. Likewise, the current account is expected to run astronomic deficits in 2020. Consequently, reserves will be further declining this year.

Given the extreme volatility and unpredictability surrounding the determinants of economic trends, it is not sensible to produce forecasts beyond the immediate horizon.

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Libya's Economic Update October 2020

The recent economic recovery has been short-lived, stalled in early 2019 by the most serious political crisis facing Libya since 2011. The outbreak of the war around Tripoli in April 2019 prevented Libya from continuing its strong economic expansion. Indeed, after its deep recession over 2013-16, driven by limited oil production (0.6 million bpd in average vs. a potential of 1.6 million bpd), the Libyan economy was able to substantially increase oil production above one million bpd in average over 2017-2019. As a result, real GDP growth reached an average of 21% during 2017-18, but slowed down sharply to 2.5% in 2019, and is expected to be negative in 2020.

The ongoing fight around Tripoli and the subsequent failure of the political rivals to reach a sustained peace deal have taken a heavy toll on the economy, which the Covid-19 pandemic is further exacerbating. In this context, the production and export of oil has almost come to a stop since January 18, 2020, due to the closure of oil ports and terminals. Assuming the disruption stays for up to end April 2020, and oil production resumes slowly to reach last-years average production level by the end of the year, Libya would only produce a daily average of 0.67 million bpd this year (about half of last years). As a result, GDP growth will be negative in 2020 (minus 19.4%), but will rebound by 22.2% in 2021, before stabilizing around 1.4% thereafter.

Risks to the baseline forecast are unusually high and tilted to the downside. First, peace and stability seem illusive given the conflicting agendas of the foreign countries supporting the main parties involved in the fight for power and wealth, which would delay recovery and stability. The disruption of oil production and export may continue for a longer period with disastrous economic and social consequences. Second, the ongoing spread of the COVID-19 infection in Europe is disrupting both demand and supply of commodities. Libya may suffer from lower demand for oil, reducing Libyas income. It might also face lower supply of equipment and final consumption goods, which would disrupt further basic services delivery and increase the hardship of the population. Third, in case the spread of COVID-19 intensifies domestically, exacerbated by weak enforcement of social distancing and its high contagion among displaced people and migrants, it would be hard to address and contain the infection because of the decrepit health system.

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Libya's Economic Update April 2020 - World Bank

https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/libya/overview

The World Bank is committed to supporting Libya with technical assistance and analytical services, as well as trust fund and grant financing, but the resumption of armed hostilities has placed its program to Libya on hold.

https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/libya

The World Bank is committed to supporting Libya with technical assistance and analytical services, as well as trust fund and grant financing, but the resumption of armed hostilities has placed its program to Libya on hold.

https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/libya/research

Latest research from the World Bank on development in Libya, including reports, studies, publications, working papers and articles.

https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/libya/publication/economic-update-april-2020

Libya may suffer from lower demand for oil, reducing Libyas income. It might also face lower supply of equipment and final consumption goods, which would disrupt further basic services delivery and increase the hardship of the population. Third, in case the spread of COVID-19 intensifies domestically, exacerbated by weak enforcement of ...

https://www.worldbank.org/en/search?q=libya

The World Bank is committed to supporting Libya with technical assistance and analytical services, as well as trust fund and grant financing, but the resumption of armed hostilities has placed its program to Libya on hold. Libya's Economic Update October 2020.

https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/libya/publication/economic-update-october-2020

The Libyan economy has recently been hit by four overlapping shocks: an intensifying conflict that suffocates economic activity, the closure of oil fields that puts the countrys major income-generating activity largely on hold, decreasing oil prices that reduce income from oil production in surviving fields, and the COVID-19 pandemic (with 3,438 confirmed cases and 73 deaths as of August ...

https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/libya/publication/economic-update-october-2019

The war around Tripoli that erupted in April 2019 between the two main political rivals reversed the momentum of the relative economic recovery over 2017-18. Indeed, Libya managed to more than double its oil production over the two-year recovery period, to reach 1.17 million barrel per day (bpd) in April 2019.

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Worldbank Search

In a recent meeting with WHO, the deputy Minister of Health informed the WHO Representative that all MOH warehouses were practically empty and the country was facing stockouts of critical vaccines and medicines including COVID-19 treatments, insulin, blood products, medicines to treat patients with HIV, TB and noncommunicable diseases, as well as surgical and trauma supplies. The situation is exacerbated by the disrupted supply chain (manufacturers who previously supplied Libya have not been paid and are refusing to fill new orders).

WHO is working with different MOH departments to prepare lists of critically needed medicines and supplies. Once the lists are ready, it will ask the Governor of the Central Bank of Libya to release immediate funds to replenish critical supplies. WHO will also work with the government to set up a strengthened supply chain that includes a reliable payment mechanism.

Libya has transferred USD 9.7 million to the COVAX Facility to secure 2.8 million doses of vaccine. This will be enough to vaccinate around 1.25 million people (two doses per person plus 10% in wastage).

The government is revising the national COVID-19 vaccination plan to add a component addressing vaccination of the approximately 570 000 migrants and refugees in Libya. Once the revised plan is ready,WHO will ask the Global Vaccine Alliance (GAVI) to consider making vaccines available for around 16 200 high-risk migrants and refugees under its Humanitarian Buffer fund. The government will pay the costs of administering these vaccines to migrants and refugees but will not cover the costs of the vaccines themselves.

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WHO Libya: Health response to COVID-19 in Libya, update # 23 (Reporting period: 24 December 2020 to 31 January 2021) - Libya - ReliefWeb