3. The Libyan economy
The Libyan economy has largely depended on oil resources as the main source of
wealth (Agnaia, 1997). After Libya changed its regime in September 1969, significant
fundamental changes occurred in the country’s economy. The country retained at least
51 per cent of the oil sector, instead of the 100 per cent foreign ownership (Mahmud and
Russell, 2003), From the beginning of the 1970s up to the beginning of the 1990s, the
Libyan government provided new economic development plans to improve the Libyan
economy and to overcome the problems that affected the economic and social life of the
country. As a result of the increase in oil revenues, the Libyan government established
many sectors, mainly heavy industry and agriculture to create future wealth in order to
achieve self-sufficiency and self-reliance, and controlled all the production and service