By: AGBI

Libya recorded a budget surplus of more than $1 billion in the first seven months of 2025 as the OPEC member’s oil-export earnings remained robust and spending showed restraint, the Central Bank of Libya (CBL) said.

Total revenues were estimated at 73.5 billion Libyan dinars ($13.6 billion) and expenditure at nearly LD66 billion, resulting in around $1.4 billion left over, CBL said in a budget report on its website this week.

Oil sales provided the bulk of the country’s revenues, standing at about LD61 billion. Royalty revenues from oil were put at around LD11 billion and the rest came from taxes and government fees.

The report showed salaries to public servants and government subsidies to citizens accounted for most of the expenditures, standing at LD42.6 billion and LD20.6 billion respectively during that period.

Capital spending was minimal during the first seven months, estimated at only LD147 million.

Early this year, the central bank reported that oil revenues in 2024 plunged nearly 23 percent to around $15.5 billion from nearly $18 billion in 2023 following a decline in crude prices and output disruptions.

Libya has sought to rehabilitate its oil sector, which has been damaged by years of internal conflict. Crude production has now reached around 1.4 million barrels per day from less than 500,000 bpd five years ago.

Acting oil and gas minister Khalifa Abdulsadek said early this year that Libya was seeking investments ranging between $3 billion and $4 billion to enhance its oil capabilities, aiming to reach production of 1.6 million bpd.

The national economy is predominantly dependent on oil, which contributes more than 95 percent of economic output.

Before the uprising that led to the ousting of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, the North African Arab country had been producing 1.6 million bpd.