PA minister asks international community for $1 billion in annual donations to fund the PA budget
Headline: “Palestine asks to convene an international committee to amend the Paris Protocol”
“Palestine asked to convene an international committee to amend the economic Paris Agreement with Israel (see note below -Ed.) and to recruit international support for the Palestinian economy given the consequences of the Coronavirus epidemic. This was during a speech that [PA] Minister of Finance Shukri Bishara gave yesterday [Feb. 23, 2021] as part of a video conference held by the Ad Hoc Liaison Committee (AHLC).
Bishara said: ‘Twenty-six years have passed since the implementation of the Paris Protocol, and the time has come to amend its methods and its clauses.’ He added that ‘This is a matter of our economic survival,’ and noted: ‘The protocol places additional limitations on the branches of the local economy, and Israel is exploiting its clauses to realize its interests.’ …
Bishara called on the donors ‘to restore the momentum to the international economic aid for the budget at an average of $800 million to $1 billion annually, as was the case in 2013.’ He noted that the scope of the international aid for the Palestinian budget in 2020 did not exceed $350 million, and said: ‘During 2020 the economy shrunk by 11% and the financial grants reduced by 33% compared to 2019. All of its revenue dropped at a rate of 20% due to the challenges imposed by the Coronavirus epidemic.’
The deficit in the Palestinian budget reached 9.5% of the GDP last year, while the local public debt rose to 15%, compared to 13% in 2019.
Bishara added that the unemployment rate in the Gaza Strip was higher than 50% in 2020, as opposed to 19% in the West Bank.”
The Ad Hoc Liaison Committee (AHLC)- An international group of donors that coordinates aid to the Palestinian Authority. It was established in 1993 and has 15 members: United States, European Union, United Nations, IMF, World Bank, Russia, Norway, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Canada, Palestinian Authority, Israel, Jordan, Egypt, and Tunisia. The meetings are chaired by Norway and the World Bank acts as the AHLC secretariat.
Paris Agreement – agreement on economic relations between Israel and the PLO, signed in Paris on April 29, 1994. Its main goal is to promote peace by establishing economic relations modeled on EU economic relations.