Colonel Muammer Gaddafi’s embattled Libyan regime resorted to an escalating sell-off of the country’s gold reserves during its final months, according to the central bank and local gold traders, as it scrambled to survive a rebel uprising, Nato bombing and international financial sanctions.

Qassim Azzuz, the new central bank governor, said the Gaddafi regime raised more than $1bn to pay salaries from trading 29 tonnes of gold with local traders in April, with the metal then possibly being taken out of the country for resale.

The sell-off – which the victorious anti-Gaddafi opposition says consumed a fifth of the nation’s gold reserves – highlights the squeeze facing Col Gaddafi as the uprising grew and international sanctions took hold while raising the question of whether he used the money to directly fund his war effort.