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 . Last year , Libya 's economy was booming , with gross domestic product surging 10.3 % , according to the International Monetary Fund . And in a report published February 15 , the IMF 's executive board concluded , `` The outlook for Libya 's economy remains favorable . '' But two days later , protests against Col. Moammar Gadhafi 's 41-year rule erupted in the eastern city of Benghazi . As protests spread to other cities and towns across the country , the Gadhafi regime embarked on a bloody crackdown . Today , the country is split into territories controlled by loyalists and opposition rebels . A NATO military alliance is now into the fourth month of a campaign of airstrikes against government targets after the U.N. Security Council passed a resolution authorizing the use of force to protect civilian lives . The civil war has all but shattered ambitious plans to upgrade transport , housing and infrastructure in a country that had long been isolated from the international community . `` The main objective was to create capacity for the economy to stand on its feet away from oil and gas production , '' recalled Zlitni somewhat wistfully , as he described a five-year , $ 170 billion plan to modernize Libya . In March , the legions of foreign workers who had been contracted to build railroads , airports , apartment buildings and telecommunications networks began fleeing the rapidly escalating conflict by the tens of thousands . The exodus included large numbers of engineers , construction and oil workers from China , Turkey , Egypt , and the Philippines , who crossed the western border with Tunisia on foot . At the time , many of them told CNN stories of being robbed at gunpoint by Libyan security forces who took their cell phones , laptops and money . Left behind were mammoth construction projects that still dot the Libyan landscape . Many of these unfinished structures were apartment buildings being built for an estimated 50,000 families across the country . `` So many infrastructure projects ... were carried out by international companies , '' Zlitni said . `` Yet the stoppage of these projects could be felt in the economy . Particularly in the building sectors , the transportation sectors , the communication sectors . '' More ominous for the Libyan economy has been the Tripoli government 's growing isolation . NATO is enforcing a no-fly zone over Gadhafi-controlled territory as well as a virtual blockade of Libyan ports . The sanctions have created huge fuel shortages . Long lines of cars now wait at service stations . This week , the government in Tripoli announced it was intervening to control rising prices of basic commodities . `` In a crisis situation like this traders tend to profit more than they should , and therefore there is an intervention by the ministry of foreign trade for the prices of consumer goods , '' Zlitni said . The minister said the government was fixing prices of rice , flour , meat , eggs , sugar and edible oils to prevent hardship among lower-income families . `` We subsidize , basically , '' Zlitni said , `` with large amount of funds . '' But Zlitni warned it was growing increasingly difficult for the embattled Gadhafi regime to pay for these types of subsidies . He pointed out that foreign countries have frozen tens of billions of dollars in Libyan government assets that had been carefully invested overseas in `` treasury bills , bonds , stocks and investments in various international markets , whether in Europe , the USA or Asia . '' Zlitni compared Libya 's dwindling government coffers to the edible meat on an animal . `` This should n't last long , otherwise we 'll be eating the fat and meat . And we 'll very soon arrive to the bones . '' Throughout the hour-long interview , Zlitni made no mention of the fact that last month , the U.N. Security Council added his name to a list of high-ranking officials in the Gadhafi regime now facing an international travel ban . He did , however , declare Tripoli 's opposition to proposals to hand over frozen Libyan government bank accounts to the opposition Transitional National Council headquartered in Benghazi . Last week , U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced Washington formally recognized the council in Benghazi as Libya 's legitimate governing authority . State department officials said this could potentially give Benghazi access to some $ 30 billion in frozen Libyan funds in the United States . `` This is against international rules . The international monetary system can not withstand action in this manner , '' Zlitni said . `` If you are freezing through United Nations Security Council action funds for any country , then you ca n't confiscate it . There are legal obligations of the banks . '' But when asked what recourse Tripoli would have if the U.S. government went through with its threat , Zlitni conceded there are few options . `` We should file litigation against them , '' he said .
` ` The damage is colossal , '' says Ali Hassan , Libya 's planning and development minister . The suspension of oil and gas exports accounted for a huge chunk of that , he says . Mammoth construction projects , now abandoned , still dot the Libyan landscape .