Al-Shalwi: Disclosure and Transparency in Libya During the First Half of 2026… A Comparative Review of the National Oil Corporation and the Central Bank of Libya

Written by: Oil and Economic Expert Abdelmonsef Al-Shalwi

When assessing the level of disclosure and transparency in sovereign institutions, it is not enough to look at the number of published statements. It is also necessary to measure their regularity, continuity, clarity of content, and usefulness to elites, decision-makers, the media, and the general public.

By reviewing the statements issued during the first half of 2026, it can be observed that the National Oil Corporation (NOC) made clear progress in maintaining regular periodic disclosure. It continued to publish monthly data on production, exports, oil revenues, supplies directed to the domestic market, power stations, and refineries, in addition to issuing technical and financial clarifications whenever questions arose regarding certain figures.

This regularity helped provide a picture closer to reality of the oil sector’s activities and enabled observers to compare figures across months, track developments in production and revenues, and understand an important aspect of the relationship between what the state produces and the financial resources it generates.

By contrast, the Central Bank of Libya is—and should be—the institution with the broader data system in terms of the diversity of information it publishes, given its release of monetary and banking indicators, foreign exchange data, inflation figures, information on the banking sector, and public finances. However, the breadth of data does not always compensate for a lack of regularity in some key publications, foremost among them the statement on public revenues and expenditures, which is the document most closely connected to the interests of citizens and economic elites.

This is where the NOC’s main advantage emerges during the period under review. The Corporation did not have the broader mandate, but it was more consistent and clearer in disclosing information about its core activities. This is an important point, because the value of data is not determined solely by its volume or diversity, but also by whether it is issued regularly and according to a format that allows for comparison and monitoring.

The importance of the Corporation’s disclosures is also not limited to specialists in the oil sector, as oil represents Libya’s primary source of public revenue and foreign currency. Therefore, production, export, and revenue data are as important to citizens as they are to experts and decision-makers. They form the first link in understanding the country’s financial and economic situation.

The Central Bank’s data represent the next link, as they show what has been collected and deposited, how resources have been used, the volume of public spending, the uses of foreign currency, and the impact of these factors on reserves, liquidity, and prices.

Therefore, the comparison does not mean placing the two institutions in competition, as each has a different mandate. Rather, it shows that the NOC appeared during the first half of 2026 to be more committed to regular periodic disclosure, while the Central Bank retained an advantage in terms of the comprehensiveness and diversity of its data due to its specialization and responsibilities, without achieving the same level of continuity in some key data.

The most important diagnosis is that Libya does not suffer from a complete absence of information. Rather, the problem lies in the fragmentation of information among multiple entities, differences in publication schedules, and the absence of a unified platform linking oil production, revenues collected, funds transferred, and public expenditure.

The NOC may announce revenues related to shipments collected during a particular month, while the same revenues may appear in the Central Bank’s data at a later period due to timing differences between production, export, collection, deposit, and settlement. Therefore, any direct comparison between the figures of the two entities must take these technical and accounting differences into account before drawing conclusions.

The key recommendation is to establish a joint disclosure mechanism involving the National Oil Corporation, the Central Bank of Libya, the Ministry of Finance, and the Libyan Foreign Bank, to issue a simplified monthly statement outlining the path of oil revenues from production and export to collection, deposit, and expenditure.

It is also important to adopt clear levels of disclosure, beginning with concise operational data, followed by standardized monthly data, analytical quarterly reports, and an audited annual report that enables an integrated assessment of the performance of the oil sector and public finances.

Conclusion:

If the criterion for comparison is the breadth of data coverage, then the Central Bank of Libya has the more comprehensive system by virtue of the nature of its work. However, if the criterion is regularity, continuity, and clarity in disclosing information about core activities, then the National Oil Corporation is clearly ahead during the first half of 2026.

This progress should not be viewed as merely a superficial institutional achievement, but rather as a model that can be built upon and developed toward a national system that makes it possible to clearly track the path of public wealth: from the well, to export, to the bank, and then to the public treasury and the areas of expenditure.