January 31, 2021 (PNN) – UNRWA spokesperson Sami Mushasha’a expected, within days, that the United States of America will announce the official return of the financial donation to the agency, which was the largest donor until 2017, at $ 360 million, which is a quarter of the agency’s budget.
In an interview with “Voice of Palestine” radio, this morning, Mushasha’a said that the return of the US donation to the agency will help the agency to solve the financial crisis to some extent, but it will not solve the problem permanently, adding that the interruption of this donation during the Trump era did not affect the donations made. Donor countries such as Arab and Islamic countries, the European Union, and some Asian countries, such as Japan.
Mushasha’a pointed out that the agency’s total deficit is $ 215 million, indicating that a budget of $ 1.3 billion for UNRWA has been launched, including $ 800 million for the regular budget, which is the same budget for the past year, and that the services the agency provided is not of the required standard.
He said that a distress appeal would be launched regarding the occupied Palestinian territories and the other related to Syria with a value of $ 550 million, stressing that the support for this appeal last year was weak and affected the agency’s services.
Mushasha’a added that Jordan and Sweden are working on holding a large international conference, which has been preparing for some time with friendly countries, with the aim of translating political support to a sustainable, multi-year financial support, to restore health to UNRWA services.
