TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Libya's Tripoli-based High State Council (HSC) on Thursday rejected a budget approved by the eastern-based parliament, warning of more partition and wasting of public money.
The rejection came in a letter from Council head Mohamed Takala to the House of Representatives speaker Aguila Saleh in Benghazi. It was sent by the Council media office to journalists.
The House approved the budget in two different sessions, one at the end of April worth 90 billion Libyan dinars ($18.5 billion) and another one on Wednesday called it an additional budget of 88 billion Libyan dinars.
The budget is for the Benghazi-based government of Osama Hamad, who came to power in March 2023 and is allied with the military commander Khalifa Haftar, who controls the east and large parts of the southern region of Libya.
The Council warned of what it described as "the House of representatives' persistence in its transgressions and managing public affairs by its sole will will only lead to more division".
A budget of about 179 billion Libyan dinars "is an unprecedented amount of money," the Council said.
Libya has had little peace since the 2011 NATO-backed uprising against Muammar Gaddafi and it split in 2014 between warring eastern and western factions.
In Tripoli, there is the Government of National Unity headed by interim Prime Minister Abdulhamid al-Dbeibah, who was installed through a UN-backed process in 2021.
The House of Representatives was elected in 2014, while the High State Council was formed as part of a 2015 political agreement and drawn from a parliament elected in 2012.
The Council, a consultative body, has a say in major political matters under the terms of 2015 political agreement.
The Council stressed in the letter "its complete rejection of what was approved in the House of Representatives session... and considers it to have no legal effect."
It also has called on all relevant parties "to challenge any laws issued by the House of Representatives in violation".