Al-Arabi Al-Jadeed – Ahmed Al-Khamisi The Director of the Media Department of the Libyan Ports Company, Mohamed Qwaider, told Al-Araby Al-Jadeed that imports of goods that entered through the ports in 2023 increased by about 5% compared to 2022.
He explained that unloaded and shipped goods rose to 3.718 million tons last year, compared to 3.47 million tons in 2022, an increase of 7%.
Qwaider indicated that the amount of imported grains rose to 1.7 million tons in 2023, compared to 1.5 million tons in the previous year.
He added that there is an increase in imports of goods, wheat, live animals and cars, compared to a decrease in the amount of bulk cement goods by about 30% during the year 2023 compared to the year 2022.
For his part, economic analyst Abu Bakr Al-Hadi said, in statements to Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, that the increase is small compared to the documentary credits for the year 2023 for importing goods from abroad, which jumped to 30% compared to the year 2022.
He asked about jumps in imports, including sugar, which jumped from $255.3 million in 2022 to $505 million in 2023, and other commodities that witnessed a significant increase.
Al-Hadi called for the necessity and quality of details of goods supplied from abroad to identify deficiencies or suspicions of corruption.
In the same context, economics professor Adel Al-Megrahi saw that imports of goods were proceeding in their normal course, adding to Al-Arabi Al-Jadeed that the documentary credits for goods during the last two months of 2023 would arrive at Libyan ports in early 2024.
In addition, commercial banks expanded their foreign trade financing activities during the year 2023, which raised the demand for foreign exchange, as the total foreign exchange uses of commercial banks reached about 21 billion dollars, compared to 16.18 billion dollars in 2022, an increase of 4.8 billion dollars and a growth rate. 29.8% according to data from the Central Bank of Libya.
Banks’ letters of credit represent about 59.6% of the total uses of commercial banks.
Documentary credits jumped during 2023 to a value of $12.5 billion, an increase of 30.5% compared to 2022.
Libya relies on importing most of its needs from abroad, 85% of goods, and inflation rates fell to 2.4% by the end of last year, according to reports from the Census and Statistics Authority.
The Libyan Ports Company is affiliated with the Ministry of Communications and Transport of the Government of National Unity, and is specialized in managing, operating and maintaining ports and their annexes and providing operating equipment and means of transportation within them.
