Yahoo.com
By Ulf Laessing and Feras Bosalum
TRIPOLI
(Reuters) - Some Libyan government ministries are struggling to cover
expenditures because of budget problems, a minister said on Sunday after
protesters shut down another vital oilfield in the OPEC producer.
In
the latest sign of turmoil gripping Libya since Muammar Gaddafi's
ouster in 2011, heavy shooting near the General National Congress (GNC)
building interrupted a national parliament session and forced
legislators to evacuate.
Militias
and armed protesters seized ports and oilfields over the last seven
months to press demands on the central government. Oil and gas exports
are the sole source of the government budget and to fund food imports.
Oil
output fell to 230,000 barrels a day on Sunday after a new protest shut
down the El Sharara field, down from 1.4 million bpd in July when
nationwide protests started.
Western powers fear Libya will slide
into greater instability if budget problems worsen. More than half of
the budget goes to public salaries and subsidies.
"The
financial situation of the government is difficult," said Culture
Minister Habib al-Amin, who acts as a government spokesman. "Some
ministries have been unable to pay for expenditures due to a lack of
budget and liquidity."
Amin
warned vital government services such as health care and electricity
supplies were at risk unless the GNC assembly agreed on a budget for
2014.
The government has
submitted a budget draft to the GNC but did not release details.
Analysts say it will be difficult to overcome a funding gap as oil
revenues might halve this year compared to the typical level of around
$50 billion.
MORE PROTESTS
The oil production situation
worsened over the weekend, when state-owned National Oil Corp (NOC) said
it had been forced to close the 340,000 bpd El Sharara oilfield due to
new protests.
With giving details, Habib said clashes in the area made it impossible to restart output at the field.
NOC
put production at 230,000 bpd, down from 275,000 bpd a week ago. It
gave no export figures but Libya needs to feed its 120,000 bpd Zawiya
refinery and 20,000-bpd Tobruk refinery to meet domestic fuel demand.
The
government has put pressure on tribal leaders in eastern Libya to
persuade an armed group seeking greater autonomy to lift a blockade of
three ports that previously handled 600,000 bpd. Talks have gone nowhere
so far.
There has been no progress toward reopening Hariga port in the east.
Prime
Minister Ali Zeidan has said the government will act against the oil
unrest, but analysts say the army is too weak to tackle heavily armed
protesters.
Violence erupted late Sunday when anti-aircraft guns were fired in the vicinity of the GNC's building, prompting evacuations.
GNC
spokesman Omar Hmeidan said lawmakers had been debating two militias
who threatened last week to dissolve parliament, tapping into popular
frustration that Libyans are tired of a lack of progress in the
country's transition toward democracy.
The United Nations helped
defuse the situation, but the two militias brought fighters into the
capital last week. Details about the shooting were not immediately
available.
(Additional reporting by Ghaith Shennib and Ahmed Tolba; editing by Andrew Roche and Amanda Kwan)
سامى أبو زهرى المتحدث باسم حركة حماس
