Saudi contributes $61.6m to PA budget

The Saudi Ambassador to Egypt Ahmed Qattan said the Saudi Fund for Development has transferred $61.6 million to the Palestinian Authority.

In remarks to the Saudi Press Agency (SPA), Qattan said that the amount was paid in instalments over an eight month period from April to November this year. Some $7.7 million as sent every month.

Qattan explained that the instalments are part of the kingdom’s contribution and monthly support for the Palestinian Authority’s budget, stressing that the kingdom will continue to support the Palestinian cause on all political, economic and humanitarian levels.

The Director General of the Budget Department at the Palestinian Ministry of Finance, Farid Ghannam, said that Riyadh stopped paying its monthly financial contributions to the Palestinian Authority for nearly seven months. However, Palestine’s Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Bassam Al-Agha, said Saudi Arabia did not halt its financial aid, but had temporarily postponed it.