Palestinian Authority receipts from donors

total $1.5b.

A statement by Dr. Anis Al-Qaq, Assistant Deputy Minister at the Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation at a Press Conference in Jerusalem."

The Palestinian Authority has received more thanhalf the funds committed by the donor countries, most of it inthe past two years, PA Deputy Planning Minister Anis Al-Qaq said.

At a press conference ahead of the donors' conferencein Washington in which he broke down the contributions into sectors,Al-Qaq said the donors had so far given $1.527 billion of the$2.817 billion actually committed in writing over five years,although earlier pledges had came to $3.4b.

Al-Qaq said the PA will ask for $52 million in extra aid, the difference of expenditure and revenue for 1997 budget.

Al-Qaq said the largest chunk of the donor moneyso far received went to financing the PA budget, $435m., and theexpenses of the public sector (health, education, transport andwater), $445m.

Smaller amounts went to technical assistance, $262m.;non-government organizations (NGOs), $151m.; employment generatingprojects, $62m.; equipment purchases, $74m.; the private sector,$22m.; payment in kind (food, machinery). $79.; and various othersectors $131m.

The funds were mostly intended for infrastructure,but with each passing year since 1994, the amount required tobalance the PA budget was decreasing - from $152m. in 1994, $120m.in 1995 and $75m. in 1996.

In 1997 he expected the shortfall to be $52m. outof a total budget of $866m.

The situation would be better if we did not havea closure," Al-Qaq said in an interview with The JerusalemPost.

The large amount donated to NGOs has been a sourceof friction with the PA, since, as their name implies, the useof their funds is less easily controlled and many of the NGOsare considered obsolete.

Al-Qaq said the donor contributions were satisfactoryalthough, at this point he said "we should have received70 percent of the pledges. He noted that the amounts are increasingannually as projects which were in the planning stage reach implementation.

Despite the donor funding and the closing of thePA budget deficit, the PA budget remained in an extremely depressedstate, he said. "There are no new investors except in housingand building and existing factories have reduced production".

He estimated that the standard of living in Gazaand the West Bank had dropped by 40%.

What keeps people afloat are private donations fromabroad, amounting to $1.2b., and personal savings.