Italy Keeps Libya - How Much of an Economic Benefit to Italy Would it Be?

I've seen it said here often that if Italy stayed out of World War II, that it would have been able to Italianize Libya and keep it indefinitely. What I want to know is how much of an economic benefit keeping Libya would be to Italy. I know Libya has plenty of oil, but I don't know just how much that would boost Italy's economy, could it possibly make Italy the number one economy in Western Europe? Also does Libya have any other major natural resources that would help Italy?
 
I've seen it said here often that if Italy stayed out of World War II, that it would have been able to Italianize Libya and keep it indefinitely. What I want to know is how much of an economic benefit keeping Libya would be to Italy. I know Libya has plenty of oil, but I don't know just how much that would boost Italy's economy, could it possibly make Italy the number one economy in Western Europe? Also does Libya have any other major natural resources that would help Italy?
Libyan oil would help Italy immensely if found and exploited appropriately (which Italy is not guaranteed to do, but they might); I don't think that no. 1 in Europe is likely. I am, however, skeptical of both full Italianization, and possibility to keep the place indefinitely without some serious changes.
 
Libyan oil would help Italy immensely if found and exploited appropriately (which Italy is not guaranteed to do, but they might); I don't think that no. 1 in Europe is likely. I am, however, skeptical of both full Italianization, and possibility to keep the place indefinitely without some serious changes.

Don't share the scepticism about Italianization. Libya had a population of less than 900.000 in 1939 and 119.000 of those were Italian, in other words 13.4%. I imagine that that percentage would increase rapidly once Mussolini and co became aware of Libyan oil. If the Libyans get uppity, I imagine Fascist Italy would use tactics that would make the French in Algeria look innocent. That said, in the late 30s, Italian colonial policy was aimed at assimilation and not segregation of the Libyans. That said, I imagine keeping Libya would be an economic boon for Italy.
 
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