RAMALLAH, June 8 (Xinhua) -- The Palestinian National Authority (PNA) will start paying its employees on Wednesday after receiving an Algerian fiscal assistance.
Before evening, employees can get their salaries via ATM, and starting from Thursday, they can get it from banks, said Yousef Al- Zomor, PNA's main accountant, noting the 26.4 million-U.S.-dollar Algerian fund reached PNA's treasury Wednesday, according to the Voice of Palestine Radio.
The PNA needs 150 million dollars monthly to pay for some 148, 000 employees in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
The PNA has been suffering from a severe financial crisis. Last week, Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad said that the PNA needs nearly one billion U.S. dollars to cover the shortage in its budget.
Last month, Israel delayed a payment for the PNA due to a reconciliation agreement the mainstream Fatah party signed with the Islamic Hamas movement. After two weeks of delay, Israel transferred the nearly 100 million dollars money to the PNA, enabling it to pay for the employees.
Israel collects tax revenues on behalf of the PNA, and doesn't transfer the revenues on monthly basis.
Al-Zomor said that the PNA depends mainly on the tax revenues, European and Arab assistance to cover the deficit.
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