{"id":257604,"date":"2026-07-21T00:46:51","date_gmt":"2026-07-20T22:46:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sada.ly\/en\/?p=257604"},"modified":"2026-07-22T00:47:51","modified_gmt":"2026-07-21T22:47:51","slug":"british-report-corruption-in-libya-extends-beyond-oil-to-the-pharmaceutical-trade-details","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sada.ly\/en\/british-report-corruption-in-libya-extends-beyond-oil-to-the-pharmaceutical-trade-details\/","title":{"rendered":"British Report: Corruption in Libya Extends Beyond Oil to the Pharmaceutical Trade \u2014 Details"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Tim Eaton<\/strong>, a researcher with the Middle East and North Africa Programme at Chatham House<\/strong>, said on Monday that recent investigations into the fuel and pharmaceutical sectors reveal that Libya’s crisis extends beyond political divisions to include structural weaknesses in the management of public resources<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Eaton, this means that any political settlement will be insufficient unless it is accompanied by comprehensive reforms to the country’s governance system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In an article published by the British institute, Eaton said the fuel sector has become one of the most prominent manifestations of corruption and financial waste in Libya in recent years. He noted that changes to the National Oil Corporation<\/strong> in 2022, following understandings between the camps of Khalifa Haftar<\/strong> and Abdul Hamid Dbeibah<\/strong>, were followed by a significant expansion in fuel imports.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fuel Import Costs Rise<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Despite being an oil-producing country, Libya has limited crude oil refining capacity, forcing it to import large quantities of fuel to meet domestic demand. At the same time, fuel prices for consumers remain heavily subsidized, pushing the cost of the subsidy bill to unprecedented levels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eaton explained that investigations found that many of the companies involved in fuel imports were recently established<\/strong>, while the prices paid by the Libyan state for imported fuel have become increasingly uncompetitive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He also noted that the cost of purchasing diesel, along with insurance and shipping, increased by approximately 450%<\/strong>. According to estimates cited in the investigations, this resulted in losses of nearly US$600 million during 2024 alone<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Similar Problems in the Pharmaceutical Sector<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Eaton said investigations into the pharmaceutical sector revealed a similar pattern of institutional weaknesses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the findings, Libya lacks a comprehensive national system for regulating pharmaceutical procurement or accurately determining the healthcare sector’s actual needs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said that estimates of required quantities rely on mechanisms that he described as being closer to inaccurate estimates<\/strong>, creating opportunities for increased spending in the absence of effective controls or clear standards for determining actual requirements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Continued Economic Interest Networks Fuel Instability<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The researcher also pointed to significant weaknesses in the system for registering pharmaceutical companies. He explained that a limited number of companies have achieved substantial growth in their market share and profits in recent years, amid indications of direct relationships between some of these companies and government officials and members of the House of Representatives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Eaton, these relationships represent a clear example of conflicts of interest<\/strong>, as some officials participate in shaping procurement policies and making decisions related to the pharmaceutical sector while companies allegedly connected to them benefit from government contracts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The British institute said such practices undermine transparency<\/strong> and contribute to the persistence of economic and institutional instability in Libya.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tim Eaton, a researcher with the Middle East and North Africa Programme at Chatham House, said on Monday that recent investigations into the fuel and pharmaceutical sectors reveal that Libya’s crisis extends beyond political divisions to include structural weaknesses in the management of public resources. According to Eaton, this means that any political settlement will […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":257605,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[124],"tags":[613],"class_list":["post-257604","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-reports","tag-libya"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sada.ly\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257604","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=257604"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sada.ly\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257604\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":257606,"href":"https:\/\/sada.ly\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257604\/revisions\/257606"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sada.ly\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/257605"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sada.ly\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=257604"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sada.ly\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=257604"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sada.ly\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=257604"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}