Libyan government pledges to pay $350 million debt to Jordanian private hospitals

AMMAN — Failing to fully pay their $350 million debt to Jordanian private hospitals by April, the Libyan government vowed that it will reimburse the hospitals “soon”.

According to President of the Private Hospitals Association Fawzi Hammouri, the Libyan government “has been delaying the payments since 2013, continuously making promises to pay but not fulfilling them”.

Hammouri told The Jordan Times last year that medical bills accumulated by Libyans in the Kingdom had reached nearly $350 million after the Libyan crisis broke out in 2011.

The medical bills, accumulated by Libyans at 30 different private Jordanian hospitals, were to be paid back in three phases this year, per an agreement signed in November 2018.

Under the agreement, $125 million was to be paid in December, $62.5 million in February and the remaining $62.5 million in April.

“Even after Chairperson of the Presidential Council of the Libyan Government of National Accord Fayez Al Sarraj pledged to settle the bills, we received nothing,” Hammouri told The Jordan Times on Sunday.

The association’s president said that two weeks ago the Central Bank of Jordan received $125 million from the Libyan government, but that Libya “did not make an order as to whom the money should be paid to”.

“Not only is the payment four months late, but it has also been stuck in the bank for two weeks. They say they will transfer it soon,” Hammouri said.