Bankrupt Hamas government unveils austerity package

0 Comments | AFP, April, 2006

RAMALLAH, West Bank (AFP) — The Hamas-led government, bankrupt and boycotted by the West, called for emergency aid to pay last month's salaries, introducing austerity measures to slash public spending.

"We are hoping to receive emergency aid to overcome the Palestinian Authority's budget deficit and to pay the salaries of its civil servants," finance minister Omar Abdelrazek, himself a Hamas member, told AFP.

He said the Palestinian Authority employs around 140,000 civil servants and security service personnel, together accounting for a monthly salary cheque of 118 million dollars.

"We are expecting aid from Arab and Islamic countries, and friends. We have had promises of aid worth nearly 80 million dollars and I hope they will reach us quickly because we...