In the span of a few years, Libya’s financial tendrils have reached across oceans, across borders and across continents.
The United States, the United Kingdom, Switzerland and the European Union recently moved to freeze billions of dollars of assets belonging to Libya’s government and its leader Moammar Gadhafi and his family, as the violence and chaos spread across the country.
Libya shares little about its financial dealings, but there are some things we do know about the types of assets that were frozen and where Libya has invested its oil-rich wealth.
Through various financial institutions, Libya has spread its wealth across at least 35 nations on four continents. The country owns a bizarre mix of investments, ranging from luxury real estate and publishing companies in Britain, to hotels in the Middle East, to a small stake in Italy’s Juventus football franchise.
Libya has also invested hundreds of millions of dollars in poor and, in some cases, unstable African nations. The Libyan Foreign Bank even owns a stake in the Commercial Bank of Zimbabwe.
All of that comes on top of the billions of dollars that Libya has socked away in the United States’ largest and most influential investment banks.
“Libya is just getting used to the fact they have a lot of cash on hand to invest,” said Ashby Monk, a research with Oxford University who specializes in sovereign wealth.
Oil prices are too high. Period
Libya has always had large amounts of cash to throw around because of its massive reserves of high-quality crude oil.
But when the United Nations lifted its economic sanctions in 2003, Libya created its own $60 billion sovereign wealth fund. Today, the Libyan Investment Authority ranks among the world’s largest sovereign wealth funds.
The country also uses the Libyan Central Bank and the Libyan Foreign Bank as channels to invest as well, primarily focusing on domestic and African investments.
