Official name: The Great Socialist People’s Libyan Arab Jamahiriya.

Location: Libya is located in the middle of North Africa, bordering the Mediterranean Sea . It has six neighbors: Egypt, Sudan, Chad, Niger, Algeria, and Tunisia. This location has enabled libya to witness many civilizations and became an important caravan trade link between Africa and Europe.

Area: 1,775,500 sq km with a surface comprises of coastal plains, plateaus and mountains. The Sahara desert extends deep into the south with scattered oasis and small towns.

Climate: A typical Mediterranean climate along the coast in the northern parts and desert climate in the south. Average temperature is between 15C during winter and 35C during summer time.

 
   
   
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

Population: Estimated in the year 2006 at 5.323 million inh.

Religion: Islam.

Official language:Arabic  (English, French and Italian are widely understood).

Political system: People’s democracy in which popular direct authority is the basis of the political system. Authority including legislation is exercised through the Basic People’s Congresses and implemented by the chosen People’s Committee.

Currency : 1 Libyan Dinar (LD) = 1,000    Dirhams

Rate of Exchange: 1 L.D. = $ 0.765 U.S. D

                                                 = 0.589 Euro          

 15/01/2007   Central Bank Of Libya http://www.cbl-ly.com/

Local Time= GMT+2:00

* Important Economic Figures

- GDP in the year 2005  = 54.5     Billion L.D. (est.)

 - Per capital income in the year 2005   =  8925 L.D. (est.)

Foreign Trade: Libya depends primarily upon revenues from exported oil and natural gas in addition to petrochemical and other industrial products. Machines, transportation, foodstuffs, and animal are of the major imports.

-Total export value in the year 2005 = 40.6 Billion L.D.

- Total import value in the year 2005 = 14.5 Billion L.D.

Italy, Germany, France, Spain, Egypt, and Tunisia are the major export import partners.

Major cities: Zawia, Gharyan ,Tripoli, Misurata, Sirte,Benghazi, Al-Bayda,  Darna , Tubruq and Sebha

Major archaeological sites: Tripoli, Sabrata (Sabratha), Libda (Leptis Magna), Shah’hat (Syrene), Germa (Garama), Ghadamas, Ghat, Ghirza, Kabawe amongmanyothers

Major oasis: Jalu, Awjila, Al-Jaghbub, Al-Kufra, Al-Jufra, Murzuq, Al-Qatrun,andZalla

Natural lakes: Waw An-Namus, Gabar Awon, Mindera, Umm Al-Ma, and Majzem

Work Force: 38.5% of the Libyan population constitutes the national labor force of which 15.8% are females. Non-Libyan work force is estimated at 450,000. There are over 20,000 newly university, schools and institutes graduates every year.

Education: In the year 2000, there were 14  public universities and more than 417 public technical institutes  and many more private universities and technical institutes. Over 1.9 million students attending the education schools and institutions.

 

Health: For every 1,000 inh., there exist 4.1 hospital  beds, 1.4 physician and 3.6 nurses. Life expectancy at birth for male= 69 years and for female = 71 years.

 

Transportation and Electricity:

•          In Libya: Over 25026 km of paved highways and agriculture roads.

•          A railroad network of 3170 km is currently under construction

•         16 national and international  civilian airports.

•          16 commercial, industrial, and petroleum  seaports.

•          Electrical power covers almost all parts of the Great Jamahiriya with a total network of 31,000 km including 470 power stations with a total of 14407 GWh.

Financial institutes: The Libyan Central Bank supervises five major commercial banks, and an increasing number of private banks along with the Libyan Arab Foreign Bank 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
     
 

Oil and Gas:

Libya is a major oil and gas producing country in the world and an OPEC member. Daily oil production ranges between 1.3 and 1.5 million bpd. Natural gas production is at 18 million cubic meters annually. Libyan local oil refineries produce over 16.5 million tons for local and export markets.

 

 

Tourism:

Libya enjoys valuable natural and historical resources over a large geographical area. Long sandy beaches on the Mediterranean Sea, a rich history of past civilization, semi-intact archaeological sights, sunny days all year around, deserts and mountains are all incentives of a profitable tourism industry

 

 

Raw Materials:

 -An abundance of natural raw materials and minerals exist such as:

 Carbonate Rocks, Clays, Silica Sands, Decorative Stones, Tiles, Gypsum, Salts, and Metallic Raw Materials, …etc and more yet to be discovered.

 - Down-stream  materials exist, such as  steel products, PVC, Polyethlene,  ..etc.

 

 

Industry:
Over 400 industrial project in the  productive stage. These include  different industrial projects in the areas of:

   - Chemical & Petrochemical

     Industries.

   - Basic Metallurgical Industries.

   - Textiles Industries.

   - Construction Materials

    Industries.

   - Electrical & Engineering

     Industries.

   - Food Industries.

   - …..etc.

 
 

Water :

            Currently, Libya is establishing the Great Man-Made River, the biggest water project in the world. It is a huge pipeline network estimated at 4200 km in length, designed to bring more than 6.2 million cubic meters daily underground water from the middle of the Sahara desert to the coastal area for irrigation and other purposes.

 

 

Agriculture and Animal Wealth

    Arable land in Libya is  estimated at more than  2 million hectares, this in addition to over 13 million hectares of pasturelands. Livestock is estimated to reach over 7 million heads including sheep, goats, cattle, and camels.

 
 

Marine Wealth:

            with a coastal line of 2000 km of clean pollution-free sea water.  Experience and marine research have indicated ample quantities of white fish and tuna. Local marine environment is naturally suitable for aquaculture investment projects. The unexploited sea sponge and coral reserves represent another areas of marine investment