Media coverage
Shams News · 2022-08-04
Economist Omar Shaban tells Shams News that Finance Minister Shukri Bishara’s claim of a $72 million budget surplus is “strange and inconsistent with the general context”. While he backs the austerity and spending cuts he has long urged to address the Palestinian Authority’s chronic financial crisis, he insists a surplus must not come at the expense of health, education and social welfare services, and asks how it was achieved while the private sector, employees and pharmaceutical companies are owed money, allowances for 120,000 needy families have gone unpaid for a year and hospitals and universities are under severe financial strain; he also stresses the need for elections and an active Legislative Council to hold the government to account.
Economist Omar Shaban tells Shams News that Finance Minister Shukri Bishara’s claim of a $72 million budget surplus is “strange and inconsistent with the general context”. While he backs the austerity and spending cuts he has long urged to address the Palestinian Authority’s chronic financial crisi…