DUBAI, Feb 13 (Reuters) - A Libyan domestic investment
fund with estimated assets of $1 billion could direct some of
its investments abroad, especially to neighbouring Tunisia, the
chief executive of the National Investment Company said.
"Although the fund is focused on domestic investment, our
laws allow for foreign investment," Basheer Ashour told Reuters
over the telephone from Tripoli.
"We could make some investments in Tunisia," he said.
He said the fund was planning to invest in what he described
as "conservative tourism", catering to a growing number of
tourists looking to stay in hotels and resorts which observe
Islamic rules, including banning alcohol.
"It's a very early stage but there are discussions now," he
said, referring to the Tunisian investment.
Libyan Central Bank Governor Saddeq Omar Elkaber told
Reuters last month the Libyan government had no plans to inject
fresh cash into its foreign investments, including Italian bank
UniCredit, as it needed the money for reconstruction
efforts.
Ashour said he was leading a restructuring plan of the fund,
established in 1986, that aims at increasing its investments
locally and abroad. He said one project was to build a transport
network of buses and taxis inside and between Libyan cities.
He said, however, that there are no immediate plans to
increase the fund's capital by tapping into government coffers.
"For foreign projects we're thinking of seeking external
financing, preferably through means of Islamic banking," he
said.
The U.N. Security Council's sanctions had frozen $170
billion in Libyan assets, but a large sum was released in
December when the council lifted the sanctions on the central
bank's $100 billion, mostly cash assets.
Ashour said he expected the National Investment Company's
capital to increase by up to 60 percent over the next two to
three years.
"It's possible that the size of the fund increases in the
next two to three years to 1.5-2.0 billion Libyan dinars ($1.21
-$1.61 billion)," he said.
The fund has investments in the oil, real estate, banking
and insurance sectors, including a 55 percent stake in the
Sahara Insurance Co.
He said the fund had 200 million dinars in cash that would
be mostly used to complete existing real estate projects in
Libya, including hotels.
Libya's main investment vehicles is the $65 billion Libyan
Investment Authority.
Its acting chief executive told Reuters late last year the
cash-heavy fund could be used to fund reconstruction projects
after a nine-month civil war that ended the rule of dictator
Muammar Gaddafi.
($1 = 1.2410 Libyan dinars)
(Reporting by Mahmoud Habboush, Editing by Sitaraman Shankar)
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