Libya’s central bank revealed this week that the country’s oil revenues had reached $9.43bn in the first half of 2025, making the oil industry an important contributor to the Libyan economy – according to Reuters.

Amounts earned from oil sales are vital in predicting Libya’s financial performance, particularly since oil continues to act as a driver for economic recovery. Despite this, the country still faces difficult challenges ahead, with an investigative report by journalist Mohamed Al-Qarj revealing that the sector also lost $249mn in the first half of 2025 due to seven cases of large-scale corruption involving fraudulent invoices, inflated contracts and numerous procurement violations.

One of the largest cases involved Libyan National Oil Co. (NOC) subsidiary Waha Oil Co., which awarded a procurement contract worth $154mn to a company under the name of “Amwaj Al-Sidra,” contravening public procurement legislation. The company also sent a further $140mn through letters of credit without the appropriate legal authorisation, and delivered faulty drilling equipment.

Since the nature of the contracts were revealed at the end of June, NOC has declined to issue any official statements of clarifications. Regarding the events, Al-Qarj noted that the country’s oil sector was “drenched in corruption,” adding that continued illegal practices could undermine efforts to improve the Libyan economy through selling its most abundant natural resource.

With this, the general outlook on the Libyan economy remains uncertain, particularly when considering political stability and energy prices. Moreover, the World Bank has also urged the country to institute structural reforms to improve non-oil sectors and therefore reduce the impact of unpredictable oil markets.

Although the Libyan oil sector faces challenges, the country’s economy as a whole did recover somewhat in 2024 – rising 7.5% in non-oil GDP despite a 6% decline in oil GDP. The World Bank’s Economic Monitor for Libya anticipates an additional rebound in 2025 too, with a potential GDP increase of 12.3% driven by more oil sector development and domestic consumption.