Libya: 10 years after the death of Muammar Gaddafi, the economy hostage to militias

In Libya, the economy remains hostage to political divisions and the grip of armed groups.

© Hazem Ahmed / AP

Text by: RFI Follow

1 min

With the death of Muammar Gaddafi under the onslaught of rebel fighters in Sirte, a long period of instability has opened for Libya.

This decade of almost uninterrupted violence has barred any prospect of development.

Even if since last March, Libya has had a single government responsible for organizing elections next December, the economy remains hostage to political divisions and the stranglehold of armed groups. 

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The division of the country between two authorities in the east and the west since 2014 has brought the Libyan economy to its knees.

Two central banks, two competing national oil companies ... all of this contributed to the doubling of the monetary system and the rise of a black market engulfing currencies.

As a result, the value of the Libyan dinar collapsed.

One of the major players in this black market are the Libyan militias.

Predation economy

Far from being disarmed, they have strengthened their control over the institutions. An infiltration that allows them to obtain currency at the official rate, resold at a high price on the black market. This predatory economy does not spare humans either. Armed groups have made a lucrative specialty: that of trafficking migrants and refugees transiting through Libya.

The three civil wars that the country has known since 2011 have severely affected already obsolete infrastructure.

The oil installations, regularly blocked by the belligerents to put pressure on the adversary, suffered.

Oil production has not returned to its pre-2011 levels. And political tensions still persisting between East and West despite the establishment of the unity government are preventing progress on capital issues to begin with. by a

.

Libya has not had one since 2014.

►Also listen: Africa Economy - Libya: entrepreneurial rage despite the chaos

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• Muammar Gaddafi

• Libya

• Economy

• Economy Africa