RAMALLAH, October 3, 2011 (WAFA) – A decision by the United States congress to freeze $200 million in aid allocated to the Palestinian Authority’s budget will not affect Palestinian readiness for statehood, Monday said Minister of Planning Ali Jirbawi.

However, he said in a press release, an official decision to stop US aid to the PA has not yet been issued.

Jirbawi said that state readiness was praised during the last meeting of the donors’ ad hoc committee, held September 18 in New York on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly session.

“The Palestinian Authority is now fully ready to embody the reality of a state after its success in building and developing the institutions of a state,” he said.

He stressed the need to differentiate between the financial crisis facing the PA and its readiness for statehood.

He said there are many countries that have financial crisis, citing Greece as one example, and the US, which is undergoing major financial crisis.

The Palestinian Authority is working to reduce its dependency on foreign aid, where three years ago the PA needed $1.8 billion to keep it running, it was able to cut this by half by 2011 to reach about $967 million, said Jirbawi.

He said the PA is exerting all possible effort to end its dependency on direct aid by 2013, pointing out that the PA still needs foreign aid for the purpose of supporting development projects.

T.R./M.S.