Finance Minister reviews economic situation with US officials

Libya’s Government of National Unity’s Finance Minister Rashed Abu Ghuffa discussed the country’s economic and financial situation on Sunday during a meeting with US State Department Senior Advisor for Libyan Political Affairs Jeremy Berndt and US Embassy Chargé d’Affaires Inga Hemmingsen.

The Finance Ministry said Abu Ghuffa received Berndt and Hemmingsen at his office on Sunday morning for talks on Libya’s economic and financial situation.

According to the ministry, the finance minister gave a brief overview of the public finance reform plan, particularly the unified salary scale project, which aims to achieve greater social equity while taking into account employees’ areas of specialization and levels of responsibility.

Discussions over public finance reform and the unified salary scale come as salaries remain one of the main issues affecting the management of public spending in Libya, amid efforts to address wage disparities across public sectors and institutions and link salaries to grade, specialization and job responsibilities.

According to the Finance Ministry, the unified salary scale forms part of a broader public finance reform plan aimed at achieving greater equity in wages while taking into consideration the nature of different jobs, areas of specialization and levels of responsibility.

The meeting comes amid widespread sit-ins and strikes across Libya, ranging from protests in the health sector and the suspension of operations at some hospitals to a teachers’ union sit-in and the suspension of classes at most schools in western Libya. Oil Facilities Guard personnel also staged a sit-in on Sunday morning and closed the main gate of Al-Zawiya Oil Complex.