The dispute between the Governor of the Central Bank of Libya, Siddiq al-Kabir, and the Chairman of the National Oil Corporation, Mustafa Sanalla, has made news again, highlighting the chaos in the institutions of the Government of National Accord, especially those which appear in the bodies related to money, funds and finances.
Al-Kabir raised the intensity of the dispute when he sent a message to Sanalla, explaining a number of points he included in 13 items, most notably saying that revenues from oil sales during the period between last October and mid-November recorded $15 million coinciding with the rise in production to 1.2 million barrels, accusing at the same time the NOC of not depositing $3.2 billion in oil revenues in recent years. Al-Kabir explained that this money could have been used to respond to the demand for foreign currency exchange in the market.
The Central Bank Governor said – in the correspondence circulated by activists in media, which 218News was not able to verify, as it was not officially disclosed by the Central Bank – that he was surprised by the hiding of the revenues by the NOC, which he expected would cause confusion in the general budget.
The Central Bank of Libya’s statement questioned the information issued by the management of the National Oil Corporation, describing it as incorrect as it does not actually match the exported shipments in 2013, in addition to expenditures amounting to 60 billion dinars from the Libyan government headed by Abdullah Al-Thani, while the cumulative deficit in the balance of payments reached 52 billion dinars.
Meanwhile, the Chairman of the National Oil Corporation, Mustafa Sanalla, sent a letter to the Head of the Audit Bureau, Khaled Shakshak, in which he talked about a number of observations related to the oil sector and the disposal of funds, as Sanalla recorded his concern about the behavior of the Central Bank of Libya and its management to stop the payment of the gas tanker “Explorer” after the transfer of its shipment from the port of the Mellitah complex to the port of Zueitina.
Sanalla made a number of observations during the past week about the work of the Central Bank administration, which has been sharply criticized the NOC, noting that the actual oil revenues in the first ten months of this year had been deposited with the Central Bank of Libya and amounted to 3.7 billion dollars, equivalent to 5.2 billion Libyan dinars, according to the official exchange rate, and not as stated in the Central Bank statement.
<span;>This information exchange between the National Oil Corporation and the Central Bank of Libya is not the first of its kind. A year ago, in November of 2019, leaked clips emerged from inside the meeting room of the Libyan British Business Council, which was organized in Tunisia at the time. Al-Kabir accusing Sanallah of interfering in the affairs of the Central Bank and speaking about anything that has nothing to do with him, during his speech at the forum. Al-Kabir urged Sanalla to solve his problems with the government and parliament away from “statements in official events”, in a form that reflected the features of division and a disagreement between the two parties.
In another separate event, Sanalla appeared summarizing the eastern region’s crisis and the reason for the parliament’s disagreement with the institution in “alfalfa,” indicating that it was the main reason for closing the oil ports and stopping production, which means, according to Sanalla’s statements, that the oil crisis in Libya was caused by the closure by eastern region.
