Ramallah - Ma'an - The Ministry of Finance said on Tuesday that the emergency budget for 2024 has been approved, with total expected revenues of 14 billion shekels, total expenditures estimated at 19.4 billion shekels, and expected grants from donor countries of about 2.5 billion shekels. Yesterday, Monday, the President of the State of Palestine, Mahmoud Abbas, issued a decision-law regarding the general budget for the fiscal year 2024, which was recommended by the Council of Ministers. The Ministry of Finance explained in a statement that it based its emergency budget on reducing the financial ceilings of government institutions in a way that does not affect the quality of services provided, in addition to implementing it according to the cash liquidity available on a daily basis, and allocating the available financial capabilities based on the government's priorities and directions in raising the effectiveness of the performance of government institutions and improving the quality of their services, and addressing the phenomena of undirected spending according to the reform agenda in the public sector, and giving priority to the sectors of: health, education, social protection, and security. The Ministry of Finance confirmed that it will continue its development policy of reforming the revenue system, localizing medical services, upgrading the health sector, and rationalizing health insurance fees, in order to gradually reduce medical transfers and work on reducing the net lending item, which costs the state treasury huge sums, by adopting strict collection policies and linking support for municipalities to their efforts to reduce net lending. The 2024 budget is based on austerity measures, including: reducing salaries and wages expenses, operating and capital expenses, and maintaining the minimum level of development expenses. According to current data, revenues are expected to decline by 21.4% compared to actual data for 2023, due to a decline in domestic revenues and clearing revenues related to the cu rrent political and economic conditions. The average monthly clearance revenues, after Israeli deductions, ranged between 800 and 850 million shekels, but recently decreased to between 200 and 250 million shekels per month, due to the recent arbitrary deductions after the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip, which means that the Israeli occupation government has been deducting about two-thirds of Palestinian tax revenues since October of last year. Local revenues witnessed a significant decrease from what they were before the aggression on Gaza, as they were at a rate of 550 million shekels per month, to now at a rate of 350 million shekels, i.e. a decrease of 36%. Regarding expenditures, total expenditures in the 2024 budget are estimated at approximately NIS 19.4 billion, a decrease of 7.6% compared to the 2023 budget, and a decrease of 1.4% compared to actual 2023 spending. The allocation for development projects amounted to NIS 1,512 million in the budget, a 29% decrease compared to the 2023 budget. T he Finance Ministry said it seeks to reduce public debt service, as NIS 460 million was allocated for public debt service, a 5.5% decrease compared to its allocation in 2023. Based on national responsibility towards our people in the Gaza Strip, an additional amount of 100 million shekels has been allocated within the 2024 budget to support the Gaza Strip, in addition to the amount spent by the government on the Strip, which amounts to about five billion shekels annually. The budget assumes that total external support will increase to NIS 2,510 million in the 2024 budget, reflecting a 91% increase compared to the actual for 2023. This improvement is due to the expected increase in general budget support, which is estimated to rise to NIS 1,965 million, an increase of 160% compared to the actual for 2023. Regarding support for development projects, it is expected to reach NIS 545 million in the 2024 budget, a 3% decrease from the actual budget for 2023. The Ministry of Finance indicated that the total defi cit after illegal Israeli grants and deductions has worsened to NIS 6.8 billion, an increase of 172% over the previous year. This is mainly due to the decline in revenues and the huge increase in the rate of Israeli deductions from the clearance, as Israel is imposing new deductions due to the aggression, which are expected to reach NIS 3.9 billion, an increase of 100% over 2023 and 560% over 2022. Source: Maan News Agency