{"id":42898,"date":"2020-06-10T09:23:19","date_gmt":"2020-06-10T09:23:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=42898"},"modified":"2020-06-10T09:23:19","modified_gmt":"2020-06-10T09:23:19","slug":"palestinian-public-workers-go-unpaid-as-pa-hit-by-economic-earthquake","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=42898","title":{"rendered":"Palestinian public workers go unpaid as PA hit by \u2018economic earthquake\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\nGAZA:\u00a0The embattled Palestinian Authority (PA) has been forced to hold off payment of May wages for around 155,000 public employees due to an \u201ceconomic earthquake\u201d that has hit the country\u2019s finances.<\/p>\n

\nIsrael\u2019s suspension of tax revenue transfers coupled with spending on the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak and Palestine\u2019s economic recession have combined to create a financial perfect storm.<\/p>\n

\nPalestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh said: \u201cIf we have the ability to pay the salaries we will pay, and if not, we will wait a little longer.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nIsrael usually collects tax returns on goods imported through its ports, and the PA uses its share to help toward paying the wages of employees in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, a sum that makes up about 70 percent of the authority\u2019s total public spending. PA internal revenues along with foreign support make up the balance.<\/p>\n

\nPalestinian Finance Minister Shukri Bishara said that spending on tackling the COVID-19 crisis had drained the country\u2019s coffers by as much as 70 percent.<\/p>\n

\nSamir Abdullah, director general of the Palestinian Economic Policy Research Institute (MAS) and former Palestinian minister of planning, told Arab News that Palestine\u2019s latest economic crisis differed from others because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Israel\u2019s suspension of tax revenues, and recession in the Palestinian economy.<\/p>\n

\nHe said: \u201cThe PA has faced an increase in expenditures as a result of measures to combat the coronavirus, the closure of the economy for about 70 days, as well as a decrease in revenues and high rates of unemployment.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cAn earthquake has occurred in the economy, and there is a sharp drop in revenues, and according to estimates by the World Bank, taxes will decrease in the coming period as well.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cThe Palestinian Authority may not be able to borrow from the Palestinian banks again because it exceeded the maximum permissible limit of 10 percent of the total loans. The debts on the PA to Palestinian banks amount to about $1.8 billion,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

\nSince 2012, foreign aid to the PA had decreased from $1.8 billion to around $700 million last year and Abdullah pointed out that the authority\u2019s current economic crisis would affect all sectors and could ultimately lead to its collapse or bankruptcy.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cThe PA is based on a national project, and there will be patience from the employees, and they will not take to the streets in order to demonstrate that they have not received their salaries. There is political and economic solidarity in the Palestinian society,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\nHowever, Hamed Jad, an economic journalist for the Palestinian Al-Ayyam newspaper, predicted that the present financial situation would be short lived.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cThis is just a stage which will not last long until solutions are reached. This is not the first time that a crisis like this has occurred, and tax revenues have been suspended.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cDespite the crisis for everyone, Palestinian banks can lend to the Palestinian Authority, as the value of deposits amounts to $17 billion, and this may be the best solution until the current political crisis ends,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

GAZA:\u00a0The embattled Palestinian Authority (PA) has been forced to hold off payment of May wages for around 155,000 public employees due to an \u201ceconomic earthquake\u201d that has hit the country\u2019s finances. Israel\u2019s suspension of tax revenue transfers coupled with spending on the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak and Palestine\u2019s economic recession have combined to create a…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-42898","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-spotlight_news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42898","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=42898"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42898\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=42898"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=42898"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=42898"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}