"Frozen" Libya's money was a gift by the World Bank

Banks of countries around the world to freeze the accounts of Libya, whose size is comparable to the contingency fund rather big states. First on the freezing of Libyan government went to the U.S., the amount of cash and investments in various financial instruments company shocked Wall Street financiers - he made $ 30 billion despite the fact that recent sanctions on Libya's money in the U.S. local authorities have imposed not so long ago, in 2004 year, says CNBC. (For comparison, the Reserve Fund of Russia to the end of February amounted to "only" 26.12 billion dollars, or 755.82 billion rubles). Among financial institutions, were found in Libyan assets are called, in particular, Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase and the Carlyle Group. The administration of U.S. president Barack Obama point out that it is the largest one-time freezing of overseas assets in U.S. history. According to U.S. officials, which refers to the newspaper The Wall Street Journal, in the Libyan central bank more than $ 100 billion foreign exchange reserves and sovereign wealth funds in the country may be more than 70 billion dollars. According to estimates by the International Monetary Fund reserves, which ruled the Central Bank of Libya, would be enough for it to cover a three-year import volume of the country. While the fate of billions of dollars of assets is in limbo. The U.S. Treasury has given a bank, in which the funds of the North African country, to place these funds in the account with interest at market rates. Bankers shall be prohibited commercial activity or to manage the money, but are allowed to hold bonds to maturity and equity securities. Securities, the repayment period expires, must be converted into cash. The U.S. Treasury must issue approval for any transaction, the operations that are in the process should be completed. This means that after a while the banks may lose revenue they receive from the management of Libyan assets, but a substantial portion of liquid assets remain on banks' books, says CNBC. For banks in the U.S., Britain, Austria and other EU countries "freeze" - a gift of a dream, says Yuri Nikishev, deputy chairman Metkombank. "This means that the client can not withdraw money from the bank. Quite accounting terms, the customer deposit liabilities in the bank balance is locked. But nothing prevents a bank to use them for your pleasure - the asset balance of the bank from any encumbrances of freedom - says BFM. ru banker. - This situation is reminiscent of the so-called dormant accounts in Swiss banks' balance sheet, whose owners have lost access to them or even leave this world without leaving a will. Thus, the only affected country is Libya. But I think that she is quite able to go through it. " If the bank froze the money, it does not mean he has lost them, "says Dmitry and Maple, Partner, UFG Wealth Management. "In fact, there was a seizure of money inside the bank. Comparable precedent not, therefore, most likely, all will be decided on an individual basis," - says Maple BFM.ru. Earlier, British Prime Minister David Cameron has blocked sending to Libya a large batch of freshly printed dinars, worth 1.5 billion dollars. On Monday, the Central Bank of Austria said that about 1.2 billion euros (1.66 billion dollars) in deposits with banks in Austria related to the Libyan government, were frozen. German authorities have ordered to block the account in a bank in the country at 2.8 million dollars that belongs to one of the sons of al-Gaddafi, reports AP. The Netherlands also joined the mass blocking of Libyan funds and other assets. On Air Radio Netherlands Worldwide, said head of the Dutch Ministry of Finance, without revealing assessment of blocked assets. Libyan money were found in Canada: the country froze 2.4 billion dollars, which may belong to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. Previously, Canadian authorities reported the imposition of sanctions against the regime of Gaddafi. Libya halted all financial transactions. Meanwhile, according to the de facto oil minister Shukri Ghanem, Libya, the proceeds of oil supplies from the east of the country continue to arrive at the Libyan accounts, reports AP. The bulk of foreign investment controls Libya Libyan Investment Agency, the sovereign wealth fund, founded in 2007 for the management of oil earnings of the country. According to IMF estimates, this is the Libyan agency controlled assets worth about $ 40 billion. Among them - about 3% in the publisher of the newspaper Financial Times, the company Pearson, 7,5% in the Italian football club Juventus, 2.6% of one of the largest Italian banks UniCredit, 2% in the Italian conglomerate Finmeccanica. In addition, the list investobektov Libyan capital - share in the $ 100 million in the Hollywood production company, Natural Selection. On materials bfm.ru