Libya’s High State Council rejects parliament budget

Libya’s Tripoli-based High State Council has rejected a budget approved by the eastern-based parliament, warning of more partition and wasting of public money.

The rejection came in a letter from council head Mohammed Takala to the House of Representatives Speaker Aguila Saleh in Benghazi.

It was sent by the council media office to journalists.

The House approved the budget in two different sessions, one at the end of April worth 90 billion Libyan dinars ($18.5 billion) and another called it an additional budget of 88 billion Libyan dinars on Wednesday.

The budget is for the Benghazi-based government of Osama Hamad, who came to power in March 2023 and is allied with the military commander Khalifa Haftar, who controls the east and large parts of the southern region of Libya.

The council warned of what it described as “the House of Representatives’ persistence in its transgressions and managing public affairs by its sole will only lead to more division.”

A budget of about 179 billion Libyan dinars “is an unprecedented amount of money,” the council said.

Libya has had little peace since the 2011 uprising against Muammar Qaddafi, and it split in 2014 between warring eastern and western factions.

In Tripoli, the Government of National Unity is headed by interim Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah, installed through a UN-backed process in 2021.

The House of Representatives was elected in 2014, while the High State Council was formed as part of a 2015 political agreement and drawn from a parliament elected in 2012.