JERUSALEM, May 4, 2010 (WAFA)- The United States has successfully completed the transfer of $75 million in budget support to the Palestinian Authority (PA), in fulfillment of the U.S. Government’s commitment to provide $150 million in direct budget assistance to the PA in Fiscal Year 2010. 

The United States had, at the request of the PA, previously delivered $75 million in December 2009.

This assistance will support President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Salam Fayyad’s efforts to build the institutions necessary to sustain a future state, and deliver effective services to the people of the West Bank and Gaza.  The provision of direct budgetary assistance is subject to strict auditing and accountability mechanisms. 

With this transfer, the United States has provided more than $650 million in direct budget support to the PA over the past three years.  The United States remains the largest single national donor to Palestinians, and the United States, through the U.S. Agency for International Development and other agencies, provides continuing development and humanitarian programs to support the Palestinian Authority and the people of the West Bank and Gaza.