| Submit your comments on this article | ||
| Middle East | ||
| Saudis to rehouse Palestinians left homeless by IDF | ||
| 2004-01-01 | ||
| Lots of interesting stuff here for those of you who believe in following the money. EFL Saudi Arabia will build 950 housing units for Palestinians whose homes have been destroyed by the IDF in Rafah, Palestinian Authority officials said Wednesday after PA Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei’s first official visit to Saudi Arabia.
Note that this term is redundant - the deficit = the budget and pay the salaries of its employees. "The Saudis agreed to pay $7.7m. for the budget till the next Arab summit in Tunis in March," said Majdi al-Khalidi, an official from the PA Foreign Ministry. "Saudi Arabia is the only Arab country which has payed its pledges," he added.
I haven’t seen evidence of development though. PA Finance Minister Salaam Fayad recently traveled to Washington and urged the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund to reactivate a trust fund for the budget, so that donors will feel comfortable giving money to the PA. The money in the fund and its distribution would be managed by the World Bank and the IMF, a Palestinian official said. The World Bank agreed to renew the fund and will try to convince donors to pledge money for the PA’s budget for 2004, which is forecast at about $1.2 billion. "Our expectation is that the Arabs will pay $400m. of our $650m. budget deficit and that the Europeans and others will pay the rest," he added. But so far, the PA can only count on the Saudi money. Note that it appears the PA doesn’t collect any revenues of its own. Its a 100% welfare case. "For the past two months, we had to borrow money from private banks to pay salaries, because Israel stopped paying the NIS 100 million a month it owes the PA in taxes," Khalidi said. "We cannot continue to borrow from private banks." Translates to the banks won’t lend us any more money. Knowing something about banks, they will have paid a hefty risk premium on the interest rate. Israel is withholding money it collects in taxes from Palestinian goods as possible compensation for Israeli families and businesses who have filed suit against the PA. I’m starting to like the sue-them strategy as a way of of cutting off the money flow. Besides the monthly payments, Israel still owes the PA NIS 800m., Khalidi said. Many Arab states stopped paying their pledges after Israel and the PA agreed that Israel will resume monthly transfer of tax money to the PA. They did not resume payments when Israel froze the payments again two months ago. According to the agreement, the PA cannot use the money to pay salaries. It can only use the tax money to pay the private sector for its running costs, like electricity and telephones, Khalidi explained. Makes sense! Private companies stop supplying goods and services if they don’t get paid and the PA can’t be trusted not to steal the money. | ||
| Posted by:phil_b |
| #1 |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2004-1-2 12:03:33 AM |