Economy · Current account balance · Libya
Libya’s current account balance was 4.2% of GDP in 2023.
4.2% of GDP
2023
Down 18 pp from 2022.
Stale — last updated 8 Oct 2026
In plain words
4.2% of GDP
What it is. The current account balance adds up what Libya earns from the rest of the world and what it pays out across traded goods and services, income from abroad and transfers. It is expressed as a share of GDP, so years of different economic size can be compared. A positive figure is a surplus and a negative figure is a deficit. The measure leaves out capital flows such as investment and loans.
Higher is better. A higher balance is better because a surplus means the country takes in more from abroad than it spends, so it can build foreign assets and has less need to borrow. The latest figure, for 2023, is 4.2% of GDP, a surplus. A year earlier, in 2022, it was 22.2% of GDP, so it fell by 18 percentage points over the year. That 2022 reading is the highest since 2014. The lowest in the same span came in 2014, at −33.2% of GDP, so the latest figure sits well above the bottom of its range and far below the top.
Why it matters. A surplus of 4.2% of GDP means Libya is still bringing in more foreign currency than it sends out. That helps the state and importers pay for goods from abroad and eases pressure on the country's reserves. The fall from 22.2% of GDP shows how quickly the cushion can shrink from one year to the next, so the next annual reading is the figure to check.
| Period | Current account balance · Libya |
|---|---|
| 2014 | −33.2% of GDP |
| 2015 | −19.2% of GDP |
| 2016 | −9.4% of GDP |
| 2017 | 6.6% of GDP |
| 2018 | 14.7% of GDP |
| 2019 | 7% of GDP |
| 2020 | −10.2% of GDP |
| 2021 | 16.1% of GDP |
| 2022 | 22.2% of GDP |
| 2023 | 4.2% of GDP |
Source: World Bank, World Development Indicators (CC BY 4.0) · Licence: CC BY 4.0
How to read this number
- Source
- Who published the figure
- Published
- When they released it
- Verified
- When we last checked it against the source
Every change is logged in Corrections. How the figure is made: Methodology.
Cite this number
Show text
Strata-AF™ Data, Current account balance, Libya, 2023; source World Bank, World Development Indicators (CC BY 4.0), retrieved 8 Oct 2026; https://data.strata-af.com/economy/current-account-balance/libya
Data insights · Worked out from the published figures
What this means
Working this out from the published figures…
Strata AI commentary is coming — reviewed, dated, and generated only from the figures on this page.
Methodology
Current account balance as a share of GDP. Unit: % of GDP. A negative value is a deficit.
Source: World Bank, World Development Indicators (series BN.CAB.XOKA.GD.ZS), retrieved through the World Bank API and published under CC BY 4.0. Updated annually; the World Bank's own source notes apply.