Economist Mukhtar Al-Jadeed said that the official figures for salaries in Libya, according to the Central Bank’s report up to the end of September, are misleading and do not reflect the true reality.
Al-Jadeed added, in a post on his Facebook page, that the declared value of salaries amounts to 51 billion dinars, while the actual salaries do not exceed 33 billion dinars after deducting the fees for foreign currency sales, which amount to about 18 billion dinars.
He explained that the salary increases employees receive are partially recovered through these fees, which enter the government’s accounts as revenue, making the salary adjustments less impactful than officially announced.
Al-Jadeed pointed out that this mechanism illustrates what he described as the “money illusion,” confirming that any additional increase in salaries can be implemented without problems by the government, but he stressed the importance of citizens being aware of the difference between the official figures and the actual reality.