A report issued by the joint oversight committee between the Libyan Audit Bureau and the Anti-Corruption Commission regarding the pharmaceutical sector revealed suspected corruption and structural factors that enable monopolistic practices in Libya’s drug market and negatively affect the healthcare system.
The report identified an exceptional concentration of market control by a limited number of companies. It noted that the company ALFA alone holds exclusive agency rights for 53 international pharmaceutical manufacturers.
According to the report, approximately 626,000 expired pharmaceutical items were found stored at Al-Razi Psychiatric Hospital alone. It also highlighted what it described as a clear conflict of interest involving officials within the Ministry of Health and members of the House of Representatives who own pharmaceutical companies and allegedly influence procurement and supply decisions to serve their own interests.
The committee further reported suspicions of money laundering and tax evasion, citing significant discrepancies between pharmaceutical companies’ tax records and their actual financial flows. It also noted that private pharmaceutical companies bear the costs of official inspection teams’ visits to overseas manufacturing facilities, a practice that undermines the independence of regulatory oversight.
The report stated that a lack of coordination among public entities has resulted in “duplicate purchasing” and deprived the state of the benefits of bulk procurement, leading to random surpluses of some medicines while creating severe shortages of others.
The committee recommended accelerating the launch of a unified electronic pharmaceutical tracking system and implementing banking-based Know Your Customer (KYC) standards to better monitor import credits and prevent the falsification of pharmaceutical needs.
According to the committee, total spending on pharmaceutical support during the study period reached approximately LYD 11.82 billion, reflecting the substantial financial resources allocated to the pharmaceutical sector over four years.
The report noted significant fluctuations in spending that did not appear to correspond clearly to stable healthcare needs. Expenditure increased from LYD 1.77 billion in 2022 to LYD 4.15 billion in 2023, representing an increase of more than 134%, before declining to LYD 3.87 billion in 2024 and then to LYD 2.02 billion in 2025, a decrease of nearly 49%.
The committee attributed this volatility to the transition from a centralized spending model managed by a single entity to a multi-agency system involving various authorities, centers, and hospitals. According to the report, this shift fragmented spending and multiplied procurement and supply channels in the absence of a unified mechanism for coordination and integration among beneficiary institutions.
