It was a sleepless Sunday night for Joseph* as the Libyan who took care of his warehouses in Tripoli was kidnapped.

Joseph is Maltese and one of many others who have invested in Libya over the years. He owns a supply company but refrains from publicly speaking about the nature of the business, fearing reprisals.

His employee was kidnapped as he was delivering supplies to a client. Held overnight and tortured, the Libyan was then released when his captors realised he had no money, Joseph said.

“It has become very difficult to get around in Tripoli and the fighting has moved beyond the environs of the airport,” he said.

I don’t know whether my warehouses and stocks will survive the latest bout of violence

The incident involving an employee was a chilling reminder of the unstable situation in Libya, which Joseph said was more complicated than three years ago when Muammar Gaddafi was ousted in a revolt.

“Today, you do not know who is fighting whom and, although there is tension between liberals and Islamists, the underlying issue is money and control of assets not religion,” he added.

But it is not only life and limb that is at stake but also properties, stocks and livelihoods.

“I do not know whether my warehouses and stocks will survive the latest bout of violence that has spread throughout the Libyan capital,” Joseph said.

It is a predicament feared by other business people who have invested in Libya.

Paul Abela, president of the Chamber for Small and Medium Enterprises GRTU, acknowledged the dilemma business people faced when deciding whether to leave or not.

It is difficult to put an exact figure on the number of Maltese businesses that operate in Libya, Mr Abela said, because not everybody disclosed such information publicly.

A “rough guesstimate” provided by another GRTU official put the level of investment held by Maltese entrepreneurs in property and stocks at between €60 million and €70 million, excluding the Corinthia Hotel chain.

This figure also excludes many service providers in the construction and catering industries.

According to this official, the stakes are higher today because trade and investment in Libya boomed after the regime network that stifled business crumbled.

For someone with money invested in a country that showed promise after the 2011 revolution, it is not simply a question of packing the bags and leaving, Mr Abela said.

“A worker has every right to leave but for those who own shops, warehouses and stocks worth millions, the moment they leave is the moment they lose everything,” he said.

The appetite for investment in Libya grew after the revolution. Figures from the National Statistics Office show that last year Maltese non-fuel exports to Libya totalled €138 million (see box).

This state of affairs has prompted the GRTU to call for an emergency meeting of the Malta Council for Economic and Social Development to discuss Libya.

“We need the Prime Minister to keep us informed and give us a briefing about the situation on the ground in Libya to make it easier for business people to assess whether it is worth staying the course or cut losses and pull out,” Mr Abela said.

Similar briefings were held three years ago when the government shared sensitive information in confidence that gave businesses a clearer picture of how things were developing, he added.

Mr Abela called on the government to grant badly hit companies the possibility to defer tax payments and to put pressure on banks not to “squeeze” businesses exposed to Libya at such a delicate stage.

Despite describing the situation as “very bad”, Joseph still harboured hope things would take a turn for the better.

“Hope is the last thing that dies,” he said, trying to make heads and tails of a complex state of affairs that has no end in sight.

What’s at stake

Trade between Malta and Libya has boomed in the past two years since the removal of the Gaddafi regime, official figures show.

The value of imports more than doubled last year compared to 2010, the last year before the revolution that ousted Gaddafi. Exports to Libya saw a far bigger increase, jumping up by 179 per cent last year when compared to 2010.

The figures obtained from the National Statistics Office show that non-fuel related exports accounted for more than half of the value traded with Libya last year.

The statistics confirm the assessment by the Chamber for Small and Medium Enterprises GRTU that trading with Libya became more attractive after the Gaddafi regime was removed.

But the figures also point towards the high stakes involved for the economy as Libya descends into further into trouble and instability.

Source: NSO

ksansone@timesofmalta.com

* Name changed to protect identity.