CAIRO, Sunday, June 22, 2019 (WAFA) – Secretary-General of Arab League, Ahmed Aboul Gheit, said on Sunday that providing a monthly Arab financial safety net of 100 million US dollars has become an urgent necessity in light of the difficult conditions faced by the Palestinian National Authority.

Aboul Gheit‘s remarks came during his speech at the meeting of Arab finance ministers  at the headquarters of the Arab League in Cairo to discuss the provision of a financial safety net to support the budget of the Palestinian government.

The meeting, headed by Tunisia, is attended by Palestinian Finance Minister Shukri Bishara, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Finance, Farid Ghannam, and Diab Allouh, Palestinian Ambassador to Egypt and its permanent representative to the Arab League.

The meeting comes in the aftermath of the severe financial crisis affecting the Palestinian budget as a result of Israel‘s deduction of millions of dollars from the tax revenues it collects on behalf of the Palestinians and the refusal of the Palestinian government to receive the remainder if it was not paid in full.

The Secretary-General stressed the importance of working at the Arab level in a viable and effective way to support the Palestinian government through a financial safety net "or in any form of financial support through grants or even loans" in order to overcome the stressful and dangerous crisis the Palestinian government has been going through.

He revealed that the Palestinian budget deficit reached 700 million US dollars this year in light of the ed resources and revenues, noting that the tax funds of the Palestinian government stand about 70 percent of the Palestinian domestic revenues.

Aboul Gheit stressed that Israel has no right to deduct the Palestinian tax revenues, adding that recognizing Israel‘s right to punish Palestinians economically legitimizes an illegal action.

A.D./T.R.