Libya's oil revenues unable to cover salaries for 2017: central bank

TRIPOLI, July 15 (Xinhua) -- Libya's central bank predicted Thursday that this year's oil and gas revenues will not cover the salaries of government employees.

"The total income expected from oil and gas exports in 2017 is 16.6 billion dinars (11.9 billion USD). However, this sum does not cover the salaries for the year 2017, estimated at 21 billion dinars (15.1 billion USD)," the bank stated.

The bank says it is cooperating with a number of government bodies and experts "to develop a comprehensive economic reform program for financial, trade and monetary policies," according to the statement.

Libya has been suffering a financial and economic crisis for years due to a reduction of oil revenues since the closure of major oil ports by armed militias.

The militias have now been expelled and current oil production has been increased to one million barrels per day since military commander Khalifa Haftar's forces took over the oil ports last year.