{"id":257532,"date":"2026-07-13T22:30:53","date_gmt":"2026-07-13T20:30:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sada.ly\/en\/?p=257532"},"modified":"2026-07-13T22:30:53","modified_gmt":"2026-07-13T20:30:53","slug":"exclusive-al-gmati-the-absence-of-revenue-and-expenditure-data-increases-the-cost-of-uncertainty-and-weakens-economic-stability","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sada.ly\/en\/exclusive-al-gmati-the-absence-of-revenue-and-expenditure-data-increases-the-cost-of-uncertainty-and-weakens-economic-stability\/","title":{"rendered":"Exclusive: Al-Gmati: The Absence of Revenue and Expenditure Data Increases the Cost of Uncertainty and Weakens Economic Stability"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Economics professor Helmi Al-Gmati<\/strong> stated in an exclusive comment to our source that the withholding of public revenue and expenditure data by the Ministry of Finance and the Central Bank of Libya is not merely an administrative or media issue, but rather an economic and institutional matter that affects the core principles of good governance and the efficiency of public financial management.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He explained that the modern economy is built on a fundamental principle: public information is a public good<\/strong>, and making such information available reduces uncertainty, supports decision-making, and strengthens trust between the state, citizens, and markets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Al-Gmati added that the continued withholding of this data has several serious consequences, most notably a decline in transparency and accountability. He noted that it is impossible to assess the efficiency of public spending or the sound management of oil revenues without regular and reliable data, which weakens parliamentary, academic, and societal oversight and increases the possibility of inefficient allocation of resources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He pointed out that the absence of official data also leads to higher levels of economic uncertainty, as domestic and foreign investors, financial institutions, and citizens rely on such information to form expectations. When this data is unavailable, risk levels increase, while investment and confidence in economic policies decline.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He further noted that the interruption of data publication weakens the credibility of fiscal and monetary policies, given that the Ministry of Finance and the Central Bank of Libya together form the foundation of macroeconomic management. The resulting information gap makes it difficult to assess the fiscal deficit, spending levels, liquidity, and reserves, limiting the ability to predict economic decisions and increasing doubts about them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Al-Gmati explained that the lack of official information creates room for rumors and inaccurate data, citing the information asymmetry theory<\/strong> developed by Nobel Prize-winning economist George Akerlof<\/strong>, which emphasizes that information shortages lead to market distortions and irrational economic decisions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He stressed that international institutions such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF)<\/strong> and the World Bank<\/strong> consistently emphasize that fiscal transparency is not a political choice, but rather a fundamental requirement for achieving economic stability, improving credit ratings, attracting investment, and strengthening financial discipline.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Al-Gmati concluded by stating that the delay or withholding of revenue and expenditure data in Libya raises legitimate questions about public fund management, weakens citizens\u2019 trust in economic institutions, and makes it more difficult for researchers and experts to evaluate the actual performance of the economy or provide evidence-based recommendations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He added that:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u201cTrust is built through numbers, and the regularity, accuracy, and timely publication of data enhance transparency and the quality of economic policies, while withholding it increases the cost of uncertainty, weakens governance, and negatively affects the efficiency of public financial management, economic stability, and sustainable development.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Economics professor Helmi Al-Gmati stated in an exclusive comment to our source that the withholding of public revenue and expenditure data by the Ministry of Finance and the Central Bank of Libya is not merely an administrative or media issue, but rather an economic and institutional matter that affects the core principles of good governance […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":257533,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[613],"class_list":["post-257532","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-libya"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sada.ly\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257532","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sada.ly\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sada.ly\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sada.ly\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sada.ly\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=257532"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sada.ly\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257532\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":257534,"href":"https:\/\/sada.ly\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257532\/revisions\/257534"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sada.ly\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/257533"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sada.ly\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=257532"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sada.ly\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=257532"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sada.ly\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=257532"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}