{
  "$type": "site.standard.document",
  "bskyPostRef": {
    "cid": "bafyreihzpi5dffza6amvdztlkauxyp5luytma4qf4jiou6succpmijpwsu",
    "uri": "at://did:plc:l73p7jrmnxja35bx5v43lulw/app.bsky.feed.post/3mhc3axsdgjb2"
  },
  "coverImage": {
    "$type": "blob",
    "ref": {
      "$link": "bafkreihmx4q5pmz3fp2daoywzae7q4op2wg62wthmazis2rlqdmxuunyfi"
    },
    "mimeType": "image/png",
    "size": 1758124
  },
  "description": "Belqasim's Development and Reconstruction Fund is one of Libya’s largest state-backed development funds, but its expanding budget and opaque financial practices are damaging the economy and raising serious questions about its reliability as an international partner.",
  "path": "/belqasims-spending-spree-is-hurting-libyas-economy/",
  "publishedAt": "2026-03-17T23:00:37.000Z",
  "site": "https://www.thegeopoliticaldesk.com",
  "tags": [
    "abuse of the country’s financial and monetary systems",
    "Subscribe now"
  ],
  "textContent": "For diplomats tracking Libya’s fragile balance, analysts modelling its fiscal trajectory, and construction firms eyeing billions in contracts, one institution is rapidly becoming impossible to ignore: The Libyan Development and Reconstruction Fund (LDRF)\n\nWhat began as a reconstruction effort in the aftermath of the Derna disaster is now evolving into one of the most powerful and least understood financial actors in the country. Its rise is not only reshaping how Libya spends, but how power itself is exercised through money.\n\nAt the centre of this shift is Belqasim Haftar. Under his operation the LDRF has increased its scope, but Belqasim’s increasing desire for funds to fuel his organization is becoming a central driver of the country’s accelerating economic deterioration.\n\n## Growing pains\n\nIn June 2025, the eastern-based House of Representatives (HoR) approved a 69 billion dinar ($12.71 billion) budget for the LDRF, allocating roughly 23 billion dinars annually over three years. For a country already grappling with fiscal fragmentation, currency pressure and structural economic weakness, the scale was extraordinary.\n\nSince its creation in 2024, it has evolved from a reconstruction vehicle into a parallel financial engine operating with limited oversight and expanding ambition. Its massively increased budget has become one of the biggest financial burdens on Libya’s worsening economy.\n\nLibya remains overwhelmingly dependent on oil revenues, which are being strained by corruption, fuel smuggling, and inefficiencies, leading to declining state finances. This, combined with increasing state spending and abuse of the country’s financial and monetary systems, is widening the gap between the official and parallel exchange rates.\n\n### This post is for subscribers only\n\nBecome a member to get access to all content\n\nSubscribe now",
  "title": "Belqasim Haftar’s spending spree is pushing Libya’s economy to the brink",
  "updatedAt": "2026-03-17T23:20:48.402Z"
}