Palestinian Authority employees face half-pay as aid delayed: Fayyad

Palestinian Authority staff will only receive half their salaries this month as donors continue to deliver less money than pledged, the Palestinian prime minister said on Sunday. Salam Fayyad warned at a press conference in the West Bank town of Ramallah that the Palestinian Authority (PA) was dealing with a "financial crisis" because promised donor funds were behind schedule.
"The government has decided to pay employees half their salary due to the financial crisis that the Palestinian Authority is experiencing because of the failure of donors, including our Arab brothers, to fulfil their pledges," he said.
He said employees would receive between 1,400 shekels ($413) and 4,500 shekels ($1,330) when monthly salaries are paid for July, but warned that they would only receive the remainder "if the promised funds arrive."
"If this crisis continues, the government will have to take additional austerity measures," he added. Fayyad said donors' failure to deliver pledged funding had left the PA with a monthly shortfall of $30 million, adding that the aid that has been received only covers about a third of the government's costs.