Tripoli, Libya (CNN) -- The Libyan government in Tripoli estimates the grinding conflict that has been tearing the country apart for the past five months has cost the national economy some $50 billion. "The cost is colossal," said Abdulhafid Zlitni, planning and finance minister for the Tripoli government. In an interview with CNN, Zlitni said the suspension of oil and gas exports had accounted for a huge chunk of the losses. "The income foregone because of the stoppage of the export of oil is something like $20 billion," he said. This has brought an end to what had been a surge in prosperity for the North African country.
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"The cost is colossal," says Abdulhafid Zlitni, Libya's planning and finance minister
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The suspension of oil and gas exports accounts for a huge chunk of that, he says
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Mammoth construction projects, now abandoned, still dot the Libyan landscape
More ominous for the Libyan economy has been the @placeholder government's growing isolation.