The House of Representatives (HoR) voted unanimously to approve the state budget for the year 2024, worth 179 billion dinars, submitted by the parallel government. According to HoR sources, the approved budget included 88 billion as an additional budget, which the members voted on in Tuesday’s closed session in Benghazi.

The HoR session to approve the budget sparked widespread local controversy, which began with 6 members of the High Financial Oversight Committee, representing the Presidential Council, the High Council of State, and the Government of National Unity, announcing their reservations about not having been informed of the proposed budget law, stressing that they were not responsible for this proposal.

The Head of the Presidential Council, Mohammed Menfi, called on the Head of the High Council of State and the Governor of the Central Bank of Libya to work on unifying the country’s general budget, stressing the importance of adhering to the constitutional reference and respecting the legislation in force.

He pointed out to the necessity of binding consultation from the executive authority with the High Council of State before submitting the draft law to the House of Representatives for approval, noting that the approval of the House of Representatives must be by the constitutional majority prescribed for the draft budget law.

The Head of the High Council of State, Mohammed Takala, also had reservations about the steps taken by the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aqila Saleh, demanding that the draft state budget law for the year 2024 be referred to the High Council of State for study, stressing that they would reject the budget law and appeal it if it was approved without consultation. 

Saleh discussed, last Saturday, with the Governor of the Central Bank of Libya, during their first meeting in years, in the Egyptian capital, Cairo, steps to approve the budget.