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Daniel J Smith has reported that The Athlone Group have added a two-year plan of highly focused efforts to increase its presence and to develop opportunitie in Libya and Africa.

Key areas will be Real Estate, Hotels & Restaurants, Natural Resources and project development.

"With key links to Real Estate and Oil industries, I can see a huge potential in taking Athlone into Africa and in particular into Libya. I believe this is a great country with a great potential, and are ready to capitalise on that potential. Athlone are ready to work closely to achieve such goals" - Daniel J Smith - Head of Operations, Athlone Group

Libya : Economy

The infrastructure of Libya's capital Tripoli has benefited from the country's oil wealth.

Tripoli's Old City (El-Madina El-Kadima), situated in the city centre, is one of the classical sites of the Mediterranean and an important tourist attraction.

The Libyan economy depends primarily upon revenues from the oil sector, which constitute practically all export earnings and about one-quarter of gross domestic product (GDP). The World Bank defines Libya as an 'Upper Middle Income Economy', along with only seven other African countries.^[73] In the early 1980s, Libya was one of the wealthiest countries in the world; its GNP per capita was higher than that of countries such as Italy, Singapore, South Korea, Spain and New Zealand.^[74]

Today, high oil revenues and a small population give Libya one of the highest GDPs per person in Africa and have allowed the Libyan state to provide an extensive level of social security, particularly in the fields of housing and education.^[75] Many problems still beset Libya's economy however; unemployment is the highest in the region at 21% according to the latest census figures.^[76]

Compared to its neighbours, Libya enjoys a low level of both absolute and relative poverty. Libyan officials in the past six years have carried out economic reforms as part of a broader campaign to reintegrate the country into the global capitalist economy.^[77] This effort picked up steam after UN sanctions were lifted in September 2003, and as Libya announced in December 2003 that it would abandon programmes to build weapons of mass destruction.^[78]

Libya has begun some market-oriented reforms. Initial steps have included applying for membership of the World Trade Organization, reducing subsidies, and announcing plans for privatisation.^[79] Authorities have privatised more than 100 government owned companies since 2003 in industries including oil refining, tourism and real estate, of which 29 are 100% foreign owned.^[80] The non-oil manufacturing and construction sectors, which account for about 20% of GDP, have expanded from processing mostly agricultural products to include the production of petrochemicals, iron, steel and aluminium.

Climatic conditions and poor soils severely limit agricultural output, and Libya imports about 75% of its food.^[77] Water is also a problem, with some 28% of the population not having access to safe drinking water in 2000.^[81] The Great Manmade River project is tapping into vast underground aquifers of fresh water discovered during the quest for oil, and is intended to improve the country's agricultural output.

Under the previous Prime Minister, Shukri Ghanem, and current prime minister Baghdadi Mahmudi, Libya is undergoing a business boom. Many government-run industries are being privatised. Many international oil companies have returned to the country, including oil giants Shell and ExxonMobil.^[82]

Tourism is on the rise, bringing increased demand for hotel accommodation and for capacity at airports such as Tripoli International. A multi-million dollar renovation of Libyan airports has recently been approved by the government to help meet such demands.^[83] At present 130,000 people visit the country annually; the Libyan government hopes to increase this figure to 10,000,000 tourists.^[84] Saif al-Islam al-Gaddafi, the oldest son of Muammar al-Gaddafi, is involved in a green development project called the Green Mountain Sustainable Development Area, which seeks to bring tourism to Cyrene and to preserve Greek ruins in the area.^[85]

From Wikipedia