The PNA ministries and institutions are facing great difficulties in functioning, resulting in regular suspension of public services which affects thousands of people.
This is due to the delay by the cabinet in submitting the budget draft law to the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) before the beginning of fiscal year in January 2006, as stated in article A/3 of law 7 of 1998 concerning the organization of the general budget and financial affairs.
The crisis became increasingly complicated due to the second legislative elections, where the minister of Finance resigned in order to run for elections.
Regardless of the fact that the 2006 budget should have been prepared before the beginning of the electoral candidacy, the weak performance of the previous PLC contributed to the growing crisis.
Due to the delay of the 2006 budget, ministries and governmental institutions were exposed to a financial vacuum; spending did not occur on a monthly basis, even though the one twelfth of the annual budget allocated each month should not be paid with a delay of more than 3 months, according to article 4 of law 7 of year 1998.
However, money owed to ministries from the 2005 budget has not yet been paid.
Delaying the 2006 budget has negatively impacted the allocations transferred to ministries according to their ministerial budgets.
According to Al Mezan fieldworkers, in January 2006 the ministries received their financial allocations from previous months, while in February and March none were received.
This has resulted in poor service provision to the extent that some ministries, most notably the Ministry of High Education, Ministry of labor and Ministry of Social Affairs, have run out of basic materials required to carry out their activities.
The budget delay is in addition to cumulative debts of PNA ministries, particularly the Ministry of Health (MoH), and pharmaceutical companies are refusing to cover the needs with deferred payment.
The MoH is thus suffering from a serious shortage of medicines and medical equipment such as blood transfusion tubes for kidney patients.
It is worth noting that MoH debts now reach US$20 million.
Further, Lack of financial allocations for MoH negatively influenced its performance in tackling the spread of bird flu.
According to available information, the MoH does not have the capacity to conduct lab sample examinations; it can only provide protective dosages.
In addition to other ministries, the Ministry of National Economy has also been also affected by the budget absence.
The ministry is unable to develop lab examination material of great importance in proving the validity of alimentary goods and their compliance with customary standards; it cannot monitor prices, and secure a strategic storage of basic alimentary goods.
The ministry's malfunctioning has negatively affected the consumer, more so due to the stiff economic conditions and closures imposed by Israel.
Thus, the budget crisis brings new challenges and risks, above all the spread of bird flu, as well as lack of medical supplies and loss of incomes, and no examination of alimentary goods in the markets.
Al Mezan Center for Human Rights demands the ratification of an emergency budget for employment and development in accordance with the 2005 budget, and the immediate provision of all ministries with financial allocations in order to provide for basic public needs and services.
The new cabinet must take the initiative and guarantee respect for law 7 of 1998 concerning the organization of budget and financial affairs and provide all necessary requirements to the ministries.
Further, the cabinet should provide protection to the consumer and guarantee high quality.
Finally, the cabinet should put an end to the disorder in distributing the budget between ministries and governmental institutions, and should give more attention to other sectors such as education, health, housing and labor.
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