Audit Office : Libya Spent More Than Quarter of its Foreign Currency Reserves.

Tripoli, 5 May 2105(Lana) Libya has spent more than a quarter of its foreign currency reserves in 2014, a report by the Audit Office revealed. Libya's foreign currency reserves amounted to $76.6 billion at the end of 2014, compared with $105.9 billion the previous year, the reoprt said. 'The Central Bank investment in foreign bonds have fallen to 50.5 last year, and foreign currecy deposits shrunk by 26% to $25.3 billion.' Libya usually has a budget surplus, but the report said the decline in oil exports has led to a budget deficit of $22.3 billion in 2014. The Audit Office has warned that if the currenct spending trend persisited the Central Bank of Libya and the Libyan economy would collapse in less than two years. According to the reoprt, the fall in the Libyan foreign currency resrves by $29,2 billion, to the lowest level in so many years, indicated that the Opec member could be on the brink of finanacial collapse. Reuters, which published the report said the aggrevation of the Libyan budget crisis, followed the closure of two major oil terminals in the country, Al Sidr and Ras Lanouf in December because of the events in the country, in addition to the closure of 12 oil fields this year, which led to the decline of production to less than 500,000 bpd, a third of the production level in 2010. Oil revenues declined by 30% to LD 20 billion '$14.6 billion' in 2014, also a third of the level of 2010. =Lana=