Italian, Russian and Chinese investments hit by Libya crisis

[jakeXT]

Italian firms, investments hit by Libyan crisis

...

Prior to the Libya crisis, Finmeccanica group was involved in updating the country's railway network, building a technological border monitoring system against the entrance of immigrants from neighboring African countries and had just opened a site for assembling Agusta helicopters.

Another critical sector is infrastructure, probably the most affected by the suspension of the Italy-Libya Friendship Treaty, added La Repubblica.

Leading Impregilo group was among the winners of an ambitious project aimed at constructing a 1700 kilometers desert highway cutting across Libya and connecting Tunisia to Egypt.

The project was part of a 5 billion euros colonial compensation Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi had granted Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi as part of the Friendship Treaty.

...

http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90001/90777/90853/7305417.html

China rail builder suspends Libya projects

SHANGHAI (AFP) – State-run China Railway Construction said on Wednesday that its billions of dollars of projects in Libya were in jeopardy after it was forced to suspend them as the country is rocked by an uprising.

"Due to increasing turbulence in Libya and attacks against some of the company's camps in Libya, all projects of the company have been suspended," it said in a statement to the Shanghai Stock Exchange.

"Given the uncertain situation... the preservation of equipment and materials on site and subsequent development remain unclear," it said, adding that most of its employees in the strife-torn country had been evacuated.

The company has three projects in Libya with a total contract value of $4.24 billion. Only about a sixth of the work, or $686 million worth, has been completed, according to the statement.
The remaining $3.55 billion worth of contracts accounted for 2.3 percent of the company's total outstanding contracts globally, it said.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20110302/wl_asia_afp/libyapoliticsunrestchinarail_20110302110111

Libya: From Weapons To Gas, Russia Fears Losses

“The Libyan crisis is costing us four billion dollars,” said Sergej Čemezov, director of the arms export monopoly that exports weapons, confirming estimates published last Monday by Kommersant”.

Qadhafi’s collapse would entail the loss of two billion dollars worth of contracts and purchase for ant-aircraft missiles and some aircraft totaling a further 1.8 b billion.

..

However, in Russia they are also worried as the Kommersant newspaper revealed some of the leading figures having business with the Qadhafi regime.

There is Gazprom, which has licenses to explore at least four hydrocarbon deposits and which bought from the Italian ENI some 178 million dollars, shares in the Elephant Projects. The Russian railway company Rossijskije Železnyie Dorogi, engaged since 2008 in building a 2,2 billion dollar project for a Bengahzi –Sirt road. Then there is Tatneft, an energy and infrastructure group working to expand electricity and infrastructure.

On Thursday, at the end of a meeting to discuss Libya, Russian and Saudi government representatives warned against any sort of “external political military interference”.

..

http://www.eurasiareview.com/world-news/world/libya-from-weapons-to-gas-russia-fears-losses-04032011/

So Libya is still no.1 in Africa on the Human Development Index

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_Development_Index

I wonder how this thing will develop, I'm surprised to learn that sanctions in the 80's-90's didn't impede Libya's growth

In the 1980s, Libya was sanctioned by the UN after the Gadhafi regime was widely believed to be behind some of the most gruesome terror attacks.

Ironically, those sanctions only strengthened Gadhafi's grip on power, and did not much impede Libya's economic growth. In fact, by the mid-1990s, the country briefly joined the world's most developed countries, according to the UN Human Development Index.

The 1980s sanctions did produce devastating results, but only in neighbouring Sudan, where the three Darfur provinces of Africa's largest nation had been, historically and culturally, very closely connected with the Libyan economy. Shutting down border crossings between the two countries devastated the economies of the Darfur provinces and gave rise to a shadowy economy that thrived on smuggling and crime, supervised by the Janjaweed militia.

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/westview/civil-war-looming-in-libya-117302288.html

[Turbineguy]

1. "....those sanctions only strengthened Gadhafi's grip on power..."

Sanctions were helpful to Saddam Hussein after the first Gulf War.

Maybe the US Government should put sanctions on the American middle class.

[jakeXT]

2. Iraq's HDI went downhill from there, now it's not even measured.

Following the war with Iran in 1988, Iraq was ranked 50th out of 130 countries on the 1990 UNDP Human Development Index (HDI). This index measures national achievements in health, education, and per capita GDP. Iraq was close to the top of the “medium human development” category, a reflection of the Government’s continued investment in basic social services. By 1995, Iraq had declined to 106th out of 174 countries and by 2000 it had plummeted to 126th, falling behind Bolivia, Egypt, Mongolia and Gabon and close to the bottom of the “medium human development” category.

According to the HDI, an Iraqi born in 1987 could expect to live 65 years while citizens in bordering Jordan had a life expectancy of 67 years. By 1998 an Iraqi was expected to live only 63.8 years while a Jordanian saw an increase in life expectancy 70.4 years in 1998. Compared to Jordan, where the literacy rate rose from 75 percent in 1985 to 88.6 percent in 1998, Iraq’s had dropped from 89 percent to 73.5 percent. In 1990, Iraq ranked three places above Jordan on the HDI. In 2000, Iraq placed 34 below Jordan.

http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/library/report/2004/isg-final-report/isg-final-report_vol1_rfp-anx-d.htm

[jakeXT]

3. 75% of Libya's food is imported

Libya, which has Africa's richest oil fields, employed 1.5 million foreign workers before rebellions broke out against Col. Gaddafi on Feb. 17. Their sudden departure has caused the economy to collapse. Oil production has been halved and the centrally controlled economy has ground to a halt.

Libya imports more than 75% of its food, but none of its ports have been operating properly for two weeks. Food stocks are depleted and distribution chains disrupted.

Tens of thousands of the migrant workers who fled worked in food distribution, meaning it could take weeks for things to return to normal even if the political situation is resolved.

http://www.nationalpost.com/news/world/Food+Water+weapons+Libya+crisis/4375445/story.html

If ships won't come, missing tax duties won't help either, even if they have been eliminated before the crisis really started.

Libya axes custom, tax duties on food: report

Wed Jan 12, 2011

TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Libya has abolished taxes and custom duties on locally-produced and imported food products in response to a global surge in food prices, Oea online newspaper reported.

The decision by the Libyan government covers products such as wheat by-products, rice, vegetable oil, sugar and infant formula, Oea said.

Government officials in Tripoli declined to comment.

The decision follows violent clashes in neighbouring Algeria and Tunisia in recent days over grievances that included rising living costs.
http://af.reuters.com/article/investingNews/idAFJOE70B0JT20110112

Food aid ship for Libya lacks safe access

A ship loaded with 1,000 tons of flour bound for Benghazi in eastern Libya returned to port on Thursday without delivering its cargo because of reports of aerial bombardments in the area, officials said.

"The owners of the ship took the decision. There were concerns about the reports of aerial bombardments," Greg Barrow, a spokesman for the Rome-based World Food Program, which chartered the ship, said.

The WFP, which has launched an operation costing $39.2 million US to provide food aid inside Libya and to the thousands crossing into Tunisia and Egypt, said the ship had returned to Malta.

http://www.edmontonjournal.com/life/Food+ship+Libya+lacks+safe+access/4382350/story.html