On Thursday, the Libyan Minister of Economy and Trade, Mohamed Al-Hwaij called for a boycott of the import of live animals and frozen meat from India and France.
In a statement, the ministry indicated that the call to suspend imports is due to health, technical and religious reasons.
A source at the Food and Drug Control Center confirmed the presence of large quantities of buffalo meat in the Libyan market, imported from India. He warned of the dangers of eating this meat, due to halal issues.
The source called on the National Center for Animal Health, and all relevant authorities not to allow merchants to import meat that fails to comply with halal protocols.
The imports of food and live animals into Libya reached an estimated value of around 44.8 billion Libyan dinars (roughly ¥10 billion US dollars) in 2019. The import value increased, compared to the previous year.
Notably, the economic fallout of Russia’s war on Ukraine is reverberating across the world, affecting global and national markets, trade, inflation, and food security. Although Libya is more than 2,700 kilometers (1,700 miles) away, everyday Libyans are feeling its impacts. To better understand how events in Russia and Ukraine are affecting Libya’s economy, USAID’s Libya Public Financial Management (LPFM) activity is conducting monthly analyses on the price of key commodities like grain imports, and oil (the country’s largest export).
USAID is also tracking the impact of lost wheat and grain imports from both Russia and Ukraine, which together account for more than half the country’s supply. Bread is an important staple in Libya. Currently, products like bread, pasta, rice, and couscous remain available, but prices are expected to increase by 30%. According to LPFM estimates, the effect is likely to add an extra 1.4 % to inflation—pushing Libya’s overall inflation rate to approximately 9-12% in 2022.