Libya has maintained its fourth position of the Arab world as regards to gold reserves, while it has come 31st internationally in the latest list issued by the World Gold Council, which outlined that Libya has got about 116.6 tons of gold in reserve, striking a development rate of 5.3%.

The WGC’s report shed light on the gold reserves in 100 countries worldwide, 13 of which are from the Arab world with Saudi Arabia coming first on Arabs and 17th internationally possessing 322.9 tons, while Yemen came last in the Arabic chart and 99th internationally with 1.6 ton.

Economists say that possessing gold reserves is like possessing foreign currency for countries as it helps make the countries’ reserve types vary and adds to their potential powers in the world, strengthening as well their local currency, pointing that gold can only be sold in emergency cases as it could lead to the collapse of countries altogether.

Last year, Libya also ranked 4th and 31st on Arab and world countries respectively as shown by the report of the World Gold Council with the same amount of reserves (116.6 tons) and development rate of 4.6%.