RAMALLAH, Palestinian territories (AFP)-Palestinian Authority staff will receive only half their salaries this month as donors continue to provide less money than promised, said the Palestinian Prime minister on Sunday.
Salam Fayyad, warned at a press conference in the West Bank town of Ramallah, the Palestinian Authority (PA) deals with a "financial crisis", because the promised donor funds were behind schedule.
"The Government has decided to pay employees half their wages due to the financial crisis that the Palestinian Authority is experiencing due to the failure of donors, including our Arab brothers, to fulfil their promises," he said.
He said employees would receive between 1,400 shekels ($ 413) and 4,500 shekels ($ 1,330) when monthly salaries paid for July, but warned that they would only receive the rest, "If the promised funds arrive."
"If this crisis continues, the Government will have to take further austerity measures," he added.
Fayyad said donors ' failure to provide promised funding had left the PA with a monthly shortfall of $ 30 million, adding that the aid has been received covers only about a third of the Government's costs.
He stressed that the economic situation will become passports increasingly precarious, and efforts to seek private funding ran aground.
"We tried to tackle the financial crisis of loans from banks and we could alleviate this problem somewhat by taking loans, but the deficits, which are accumulating from month to month, has been to the point that is can no longer be treated with bank loans," Fayyad warned.
At the end of may said Fayyad already of PA does not receive aid quickly enough to meet its spending needs and pointed fingers in particular Arab Nations, without naming them.
PA is largely dependent on foreign donors to catch up with its annual budget. It will also receive tax and customs revenues collected by Israel and delivered on a regular basis.
In may Israel temporarily halted payments in response to a lot of unity between the Fatah party, which dominates the PA and the rival Islamic movement Hamas, which runs Gaza.
Move which violated international accords signed by Israel, provoked international criticism and the Jewish State agreed shortly afterwards to resume fund transfers.
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