'Palestinian Authority' says they're $4.2 billion in debt
Mustafa, who was speaking to reporters in Ramallah following the new PA government’s first weekly meeting, said that the PA’s local debts were estimated at $1.2 billion - $600 million to banks and $480 million to the Palestinian Petroleum Authority.
Mustafa serves as deputy prime minister for economic affairs – a job that makes him the de facto finance minister.
Until his appointment last week, Mustafa served as director of the PLO’s Palestine Investment Fund.
The PA’s external debts, he said, have reached $1 billion. Failure to pay this debt has resulted in fines estimated at $100 million, Mustafa added.
The PA also owes another $1 billion to the Palestinian Pension Fund, he said.
He said that the PA was in need of financial aid to pay salaries to its employees in the coming months.
The PA will have to increase tax collection, cut expenses and seek additional funding from donor countries, Mustafa said.There are some obvious ways for the 'Palestinian Authority' to cut expenses. One is to stop paying salaries to terrorists and their families, including to those who belong to Hamas. That would cut 6% of the budget right there. Then if they laid off some of their ubiquitous 'security services' and consolidated the rest like they were supposed to do years ago, that would cut the budget more. Of course, to do that without leaving people to starve, they'd have to develop an economy, and the 'Palestinians' have done nothing on that front in the nearly 20 years since Oslo.
So they'll probably go out schnorring again.
What could go wrong?
Labels: martyrs salaries, Palestinian economy, prisoner salaries, Rami Hamdullah
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 9:56 PM
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