ReliefWeb

Highlights

• In December, WFP provided General Food Assistance (GFA) to 96,346 people through food rations to cover their basic food needs.

• The UN Humanitarian Air Service (UNHAS) Libya, managed by WFP, continues to fly regularly between Tunisia and Libya, and increasingly within Libya itself.

• WFP signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Government of Libya to begin a pilot school feeding programme in 2019.

Situation Update

• The Special Representative of the Secretary-General (SRSG) confirmed in November 2018 that elections previously planned for December 2018 would take place in 2019.

• Tobruk Port was closed in mid-December after gunmen entered the port and took items from a container. While this may force some shipping to be redirected to other locations, putting a greater strain on them, an impact on humanitarian operations is unlikely, as humanitarian assistance generally comes from regional procurement in Tunisia or Egypt, from local purchases, or is transported from further afield by sea or air into Tripoli, Misratah or Benghazi.

• Food insecurity remains a challenge due to protracted displacement, markets disruption, and lower food commodity production. Livelihoods and access to basic social services have been affected by the conflict, exposing the most vulnerable people to a high risk of inadequate food consumption and forcing people to adopt negative coping strategies such as spending their savings, cutting the number of daily meals and reducing non-food related expenses, particularly for health and education.

• Since the introduction of economic reforms in midSeptember 2018 however, the increased supply of hard currency has resulted in the appreciation of the Libyan Dinar. According to the Libya Joint Market Monitoring Initiative, this has reduced the cost of imported goods for merchants and consequently prices on Libyan markets.