The granting countries paid only $ 846 million

The director of the Department of International Cooperation in the Palestinian Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation Walid Siam stated that the granting countries paid only $846 million out of $2.4 Billion that they pledged to pay to the Palestinian Authority(PA), though the PA needs more than this amount to implement its plans for the needed infrastructure projects.

Siam added that the Palestinian public is inquiring every day about the money of the granting countries; Asking where the money goes and how it is being spent. He clarified that productive projects need the raw material and the importing markets which the PA does not have access to do to the blockade, and that security and political instability complicate things further.

He pointed out that the PA desperately needed loans in order to cover the budget deficit which is more than $100 million, primarily caused by the blockade imposed on the Palestinian self rule areas.