Libya: “Official Data Revealing Inflated Spending On Militias groups”
According to the bank’s statement on spending during the period from January to the end of December 2020, one billion and 960 million and 408 thousand and 327 dinars were allocated to what the Libyan bank called “security agencies,” without specifying the names of those parties.
On the other hand, economic data shows the allocation of 8.7 billion dinars to four vital ministries: “Education, Higher Education and Scientific Research, Technical and Technical Education, and Health.”
The bank also spent 4 billion 588 million 767 thousand 739 dinars on the Ministry of Defense of the outgoing government, and 1 billion 380 million 888 thousand 781 dinars on the Ministry of Interior. and the Special Operations Agency, 54,340,243 dinars.
High spending on armed groups
The military expert, Muhammad Al-Sadiq, said in an interview with “Sky News Arabia”:
- The increase in spending on armed groups during the past year is due to the many incidents that the western region witnessed, such as clashes or bandits, which ended in the end with the disbursement of sums in the form of conciliations.
- This comes at a time when Libyans are suffering from the deterioration of public services, as important sectors such as health and education are witnessing repeated crises due to lack of support, and Libyans are struggling to provide smuggled fuel and food commodities, whose prices are rising in an unprecedented way.
- The crisis will continue unchanged as long as there are networks linked to the armed groups, which finance them in order to maintain their control over state institutions in Tripoli.
Pay for loyalty
Parliament member Ibrahim Al-Dorsi told Sky News Arabia:
- Within the confrontations that took place in the capital during the past year, the armed groups obtained huge sums of money from the outgoing government to ensure their support, and that money was transferred to a large economic network of hundreds of companies, to which money is also pumped from the Central Bank.
- The popularity of spending on armed groups encouraged many young people who could not find an outlet or a job to join them, which led to the “inflation” of these groups, after the elements of one of them did not exceed 500 people, the number became 5 thousand, while the flow of mercenaries continues to country.
