The 2020 Global Terrorism Index (GTI) showed that terrorist operations cost Libya about half a billion dollars annually.
The GTI is issued by the Australian Institute of Economics and Peace, in cooperation with the American Union for the Study of Terrorism at the University of Maryland. It stated that Libya, Nigeria, Somalia, and Mali were the African countries most economically affected by terrorist operations in 2019.
The index pointed out that the Libyan treasury lost about 4.9 billion dollars over the past 12 years due to terrorist activities. The index added that Libya was subjected to 1,923 terrorist attacks that resulted in 1,876 deaths, in addition to material losses in infrastructure.
These damages placed Libya in a ranking after Iraq, Nigeria, Afghanistan, and Syria. The index also highlighted the 4.5% decline in the Libyan GDP between 2007 and 2015.
For 2019, Libya is preceded by Nigeria, with losses estimated at 1.42 billion dollars, followed by Somalia with 1.16 billion dollars, and Mali with 1.13 billion dollars. The index shows that these four countries had combined losses in excess of 149 billion dollars between 2007-2019. Total losses in Africa amounted to 13 billion dollars in 2019 alone.
Over the past 12 years, terrorism has cost the African continent a total of 171.7 billion dollars. Nevertheless, the index describes its estimates as “very conservative”, explaining that the economic damage is “much higher” if the loss of commercial investment and tourism are also measured. Additionally, the index does not take into account the impact on economic activity and additional security spending