Palestinian budget strain

The Palestinian minister of Finance Salaam Fayyad warned that the Palestinian authority will be obliged to make a great reduction in public spending for 2005, unless it gets enough guarantees from the donor state to fill the expected discrepancy in the budget.

Fayyad said in a joint press conference with the Egyptian minister of the economy Maher al-Masri that the authority asked the donor states for supporting its budget for the current year at $ 660 million as a minimum. He added that in case this sum cannot be obtained, the Palestinian authority will be obliged to make great reductions in its spending.