Tripoli, June 14: Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi has called for the wholesale privatisation of the country's vital oil and other industries, which were nationalised when he seized power in 1969, reports said today. In a speech to parliament yesterday, Kadhafi said the public sector had failed and should be abolished, including in the oil industry, "which is the basis of Libya's wealth."
He called for companies to be formed "which would not be the property of the state but of Libyans," who could call on foreign experts to help run them, in order to "develop the oil industry, from prospection to production and marketing."

Similar measures should be applied to the country's banks, airports, road and "other public enterprises," he said.
Oil accounts for nearly 90 per cent of Libya's resources. Its production quota set by the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) stands at 1.3 mn barrels a day.
Kadhafi slammed the "irresponsibility" of civil servants, accusing the public sector of wasting billions of dollars and warning that the economy would collapse if it were maintained.
Libya announced in January last year its intention to open up the tightly controlled economy. Five months later he launched an ambitious USD 35 billion three-year investment plan, to include a high proportion of foreign capital, particularly in the oil and other industrial sectors. Bureau Report