Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh announced today that the government will be applying an austere emergency public budget, in light of the inevitably shrinking government revenues as a result of the ongoing COVID-19 crisis in Palestine and the world.
Shtayyeh announced during a press conference today that the government revenues are expected to decrease by more than 50 percent and that international aid is scheduled to decline, but said the salaries of the public servants for March will be paid 100 percent. He added that the salaries will be disbursed on several days to avoid crowding – a main cause for infection of COVID-19.
Meanwhile, the Prime Minister announced that 51 new doctors, medical specialists and general practitioners will be recruited by the government in the coming days to cover the needs of the healthcare sector at this critical stage.
On private-sector workers, Shtayyeh said the government agreed with the Palestine Workers Union to pay half of the salary of the workers who are currently unemployed for the months of March and April.
The premier renewed calls on the Palestinian workers not to work in the illegal Israeli settlements which have been an epicenter of the novel disease.
Earlier, Shtayyeh confirmed that two more case of COVID-19 in the West Bank, which brought up the total cases to 106.