The US State Department published a report on Saturday, with several recommendations to improve financial transparency in Libya.
The 2021 Fiscal Transparency Report on Libya said that Libya’s fiscal transparency would be improved by publishing complete and reliable budget documents, within a reasonable period of time.
The report noted the importance of disclosing budget documents information on debt obligations, including state-owned enterprise debt, and other financial data.
The report stressed the need to fully rely on internationally accepted accounting principles, and publish the audit institution’s reports on the budget for the Government of National Unity (GNU and state-owned companies.
“Internal political and civil conflict has prevented the Libyan government from fully implementing its budget processes, which has adversely affected fiscal transparency and the country’s operations. An end-of-year budget report was available online. Only limited information on debt obligations, including state-owned enterprise debt, was publicly available,” the report added.
The report pointed out that the financial allocations for the General Electricity Company of Libya (GECOL), were not explicitly specified. It noted that the budget documents available to the public were largely incomplete and lacked sufficient details. This was the same case with audit reports for large state-owned institutions, such as the National Oil Corporation (NOC).