Former member of the Board of Directors of the Central Bank of Libya, Mraja Ghaith, stated in a comment to our source regarding the withholding of revenue and expenditure data by the Ministry of Finance and the Central Bank:
“It is certainly unacceptable, but the problem in Libya is that we have not been accustomed to publishing data regularly for decades. These reports are not published for unknown reasons, but I believe the reasons are more political than anything else.”
Ghaith added that officials’ fear of publishing actual data may lead to its analysis and expose them to criticism regarding the economic decisions they make, whether related to economic, fiscal, or monetary policies. Therefore, they prefer not to publish such information.
He stated:
“This is very clear, and I will not argue about it at all. Publishing data is not part of the culture of Libyan officials, and they have not become accustomed to it. In fact, those who attempted to publish such information themselves faced criticism.”
Ghaith also commented on the criticism directed at the Central Bank of Libya’s data, saying that while the bank’s figures contain some inaccuracies—or rather, not a lack of credibility but incorrect classification—they are merely data related to transfers made to government entities.
He explained:
“Expenditure data should reflect actual spending, not merely transferred amounts. Nevertheless, there was a gap in those figures, based on the assumption that everything transferred was actually spent. Therefore, we considered the matter somewhat acceptable.”
During his statement, Mraja Ghaith commented on the Central Bank of Libya’s decision to stop publishing these figures after having regularly released them, emphasizing that publishing such data is originally the responsibility of the Ministry of Finance, not the Central Bank.
He said:
“I previously warned and stated that the Central Bank would be blamed if it stopped publishing these data, despite having done so for ten years.”
Ghaith questioned why the Central Bank has now stopped publishing the data:
“Why is the Central Bank refusing to publish them now? People will forget about the Ministry of Finance, and criticism will shift toward the Central Bank, even though the reality is that these figures should be issued monthly by the Ministry of Finance, because it possesses the monthly reports received from oversight bodies, financial service entities, and the institutions it finances.”
He added:
“The Ministry of Finance itself requires these reports before transferring funds. Therefore, these reports already exist within the ministry, and it can demand access to them. But why are they not being published? This is what the Ministry of Finance in the governments must explain, because observers cannot determine or interpret the reasons. The responsibility lies with officials to clarify the causes.”
