The Research and Statistics Department of the Central Bank of Libya issued the Foreign Trade Report for Libya, which contains an analysis of the most important foreign trade indicators of the Libyan economy during the period from 2018 to 2021 with the world.
The report also contained appendices of important details of Libya’s foreign trade during the mentioned period, including:
– Geographical distribution of exports and imports in detail by countries, and according to exported and imported goods.
– Intra-trade with international groupings that include Libya, such as ESCWA, the Sahel and Sahara, COMESA, the Arab Trade Organization, the African Union, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, the Arab Maghreb countries and OPEC.
– Intra-trade with international groupings that do not include Libya such as the European Union, Middle Eastern countries, NAFTA countries, ASEAN member countries, the D-8 Organization for Economic Cooperation, Group of Seven, Mercosur, Group of 15, the Gulf Cooperation Council and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
The main points in the report are:
– Volume of trade exchange: The volume of trade exchange (exports + imports) between Libya and the outside world during the period of 2018-2021 recorded an average increase of 30.9%. This increase in the volume of foreign trade is due to the growth in the volume of exports, which its average rate amounted to 53.8%. The volume of trade exchange for 2021 recorded a remarkable increase of 120.0%, because of the increase in oil exports as a result of the resumption of production and export of crude oil after stopping during the year of 2020.
– The indicator (degree of external exposure): The ratio of the volume of foreign trade (exports + imports) to the gross domestic product continues to increase the degree of exposure of the national economy to the world from 53.5% in 2018 to 60.5% in 2019, then decreased to 43.2% in 2020. In 2021, it rose to 112.0, which indicates that the economy is greatly affected by changes and external conditions.
– Exports: The Libyan economy depends heavily on a depleted natural resource, which is oil as a main source of income. It is in turn affected by the conditions of the global oil markets, where oil exports constitute more than 90.0% of total exports. This has made the national economy constantly exposed to strong shocks as a result of large and sudden changes in the domestic and international oil sector.
– Geographical distribution of exports: The data relating to the geographical distribution of Libyan exports shown in the table below showed the high relative importance of Libyan exports to the European Union countries, as they reached during that period on average about 59.0% of the total exports. The high relative importance of the national exports to the European Union countries (Euro area) is due to the characteristics of the economies of these countries as they are industrial countries that depend largely on crude oil. Libyan exports to Asian countries come in second place, reaching during that period on average about 23.6% of total exports.
The report shows that Italy was the most important importer, with an average of 19.0% of what was exported to it during the period of 2018-2021, respectively, of the total value of Libyan exports, while China, Germany and Spain are among the most important countries importing from Libya with 12.4.%, 12.2%, and 11.5%, respectively, during that period.
– Commodity composition of exports: The data on the commodity composition of national exports included in the report showed the extent to which exports of mineral fuels, fuels and related materials acquired the largest share of total exports during the period of 2018-2021, constituting about 90.0% of total exports. It shows the lack of diversity in national exports, as a result of the weak structure of domestic production, which makes the economy vulnerable to fluctuations in oil production and prices in international markets. Other exports recorded 10.0% of the total exports, most of which are precious metals and their products (gold) and ordinary metals (scrap).
– The report showed that the countries of Turkey and the United Arab Emirates are the most important importing countries from Libya for other commodities than oil, and most of their imports were concentrated in precious metals and ordinary metals (scrap).
– Imports: The local market, by more than 85%, depends on foreign markets, in meeting the needs of all sectors and individuals of consumer and capital goods, such as machinery, equipment, raw materials, and intermediate goods necessary for the production process.
– Geographical distribution of imports: The countries of the European Union are the main source of Libya’s imports, with their relative importance, on average, amounting to about 36.5% of the total imports during the period of 2018-2021, where the value of imports recorded 5.3, 5.2, 4.4 and 6.1 billion dollars, respectively, during that period. This is due to the geographical proximity, which plays a major role in increasing the volume of trade exchanges between Libya and the Eurozone countries, while Asian countries, the League of Arab States and other European countries made up the remaining percentages. The data indicate weak trade exchanges between Libya and African countries, Australia and New Zealand.
– The report shows that the countries of Turkey, China, the UAE and Italy top the list of the most important importing countries, as the percentage of what was imported from them amounted to about 45.0% during the period of 2018-2021 of the total value of Libyan imports.
– Commodity composition of imports: The imports of mineral products, as well as the imports of machinery and transport equipment, ranked first out of the total imports during the period of 2018-2021, as they constituted 39.9% of the total imports. This reflects the weakness and inability of the local market in providing many of the goods and services it needs. It leads to an increase in the degree of external exposure and an increase in the demand for foreign exchange.
Foodstuff imports ranked second in terms of relative importance, constituting 11.4%, while imports of chemical products, plant kingdom, and live animals accounted for 7.3%, 6.7%, and 5.7%, respectively. As for the imports of the rest of the commodity sections, the remaining percentage amounted to about 29.0%. of total merchandise imports.
