Receipt of Cabinet decisions on the tenth of this month, the payment of April’s salary before the Eid al -Fitr holiday, and the statements of Finance Minister Shukri Bishara yesterday, Wednesday, that it is not possible to pay another salary before the Eid, so that the Ministry of Finance decides, after hours, to pay 30% of the salary before the Eid. Overshadowing the crisis, writers and analysts warn that its effects will be reflected on the economy and employees.

Confusing employee expenses

Economic experts and analysts believe that the conflict of decisions between the Council of Ministers and the statements of the Minister of Finance, and then the Ministry's decision to pay part of the salary, caused a state of confusion regarding the expenses of the employees, who built their expenditure plans based on the decision to pay a salary before Eid.

The expert and economic analyst, Dr. Tariq Al-Hajj, confirms in an interview with Al-Quds.com that the Eid expenses, in light of the high prices and the exorbitant price, had to pay a full salary to the employees, as the salary, even if it was full, is not sufficient for the expenses of the occasions.

Al-Hajj indicates that some countries have given instructions to banks, such as Jordan, after deducting loans from salaries absolutely before the Eid, and there is also control over prices so that a certain price is not exceeded, and some countries have also taken measures to pay Eid holidays for each employee, but we do not have any of these matters.

In turn, Professor of Economics at Birzeit University, Dr. Youssef Daoud, in an interview with Al-Quds.com, said that the non-disbursement of the salary before the Eid created psychological and social effects on the employees, especially as it is an occasion that needs additional expenses to bring happiness to the family, wishing the decision-makers the need to consider and resolve the already difficult economic situation.

For his part, says the economist d. Nasr Abdul Karim: "The employees built their consumption behavior based on the existence of a salary payment before the holiday, and they did not take their precautions, and built their commitment based on that, which means that what happened will be reflected in their joy in the holiday, and will increase their crisis."

An important salary before the holiday

Paying a salary before the holiday is an important matter for employees and for all sectors of the economy, but what happened in terms of not paying a full salary affects, according to the expert and economic analyst, Dr. Tariq Al-Hajj, to withdraw liquidity from the hands of citizens, and thus cause slowdown and confusion in the wheel of the economy.

This also affects, according to al-Hajj, the family because of the inability of the head of the family to fulfill the requirements of the holiday, and those who have loans that they will not be able to repay, or this may be at the expense of the liquidity available with employees, in addition to non-payment of their debts, and the accumulation of goods with merchants.

Spend 30% of your salary, says economics professor at Birzeit University, Dr. Youssef Dawood said that it is not enough for Eid, which means that employees are unable to provide “Eidiyat”, even the rest of the citizens are affected by the matter, and the wheel of the economy.

Dawood says: "What makes the matter more difficult is that the holiday comes at the end of April, and the previous salary is barely sufficient with the presence of additional expenses for the holiday, and the employee may be forced to borrow, unless he was able to save special amounts previously in order to deal with the expenses of the holiday."

Whereas, the economic expert, Nasr Abdel Karim, says: “The disbursement of 30% of the salary will greatly affect the economic cycle, in light of questions about whether the banks will deduct the obligations of the employees, and that it may have been possible to spend the 30% of the employees’ dues on the government.” It is not from the salary of the current month of April, and whoever has no dues, part of the salary is paid to him.”

Undermining confidence in the government

What happened in terms of decisions and statements in which writers and economic and political analysts believe that their effects will be reflected on the citizens, as they lose confidence and credibility in the government, especially among the unions that represent employees, stressing that it was possible to deduce a better method of disbursing the salary.

According to Al-Hajj, the statements of Prime Minister Muhammad Shtayyeh during the government session on the tenth of this month may show that there is no financial crisis at all, and the subsequent statements of the Minister of Finance yesterday, Wednesday, may also show that the Minister of Finance is the one who controls the money and that he creates crises, postpones them, and may leave them. The minister is supposed to be part of the solution and not part of exacerbating the problem.

Al-Hajj notes that what is happening on the ground in terms of government employment or spending in light of the difficult financial situation may indicate that there is no crisis, or that we may have many other resources whose size is not disclosed.

Al-Hajj indicates that everyone was waiting for matters to be resolved with the unions, and the teachers in particular, but the statements of the Minister of Finance, although his statements are few, at this time after the Prime Minister's statement about the disbursement of another full salary before the Eid, raises question marks about that.

Daoud believes that what happened between Shtayyeh and the Minister of Finance is more an issue of internal disagreement than disagreements over salary disbursement, and this was supposed to be resolved at higher levels and not in front of people, and not affect them in a negative way.

While Abd al-Karim expresses his regret over the controversy over the issue of salary disbursement, he says: "Even if the prime minister hastened and made enthusiastic populist emotional statements that he would pay two salaries within two weeks, especially since everyone is aware of the difficulty of that, but it was more appropriate for the Minister of Finance, and to preserve The prestige of the government is that this be resolved in the same session that Shtayyeh announced, and the difficult financial situation is clarified, or that this be done after the session with an explanatory statement, and he does not wait two weeks to talk about it.

Bad output reflects a crisis

Nasr Abdel-Karim affirms, "What was directed was bad, whether at the beginning of Shtayyeh's statements or Bishara's statements. The formula for directing this reflects the existence of a major crisis in the management of public affairs, and raises many questions about the importance of entitlement to a broad ministerial change, and the matter remains in the president's court."

Abdul Karim says: "The prime minister is the one who controls all the ministers, and in government meetings discussions take place and decisions are issued, even if a minister maintains an opposition position, but he adheres to the decisions, but a number of ministers realize that they are not subject to the cabinet, and they take opposite decisions, and this is not The first time this happened with the Minister of Finance, when he confirmed that he would not pay dues to the unions.

For his part, writer and political analyst Samer Anabtawi stressed in an interview with Al-Quds.com that what happened about the disbursement of salaries is an illogical and illegal dispute. The prime minister is responsible for ministers if they deviate from the general framework of cabinet decisions.

Anabtawi says: "What happened suggests that there is a state of confusion among the government and the state, and that there were disputes over the powers that existed, and appeared in the street, and in light of these differences, we cannot confront the Zionist project and the crises that afflict the Palestinian people."

Anabtawi continues, "These statements and decisions of the Minister of Finance increase the gap between the employees and the various sectors with the government. Therefore, it is required to review the entire Palestinian political system at all levels, and to address the existing differences, because they afflict the Palestinian people and make the situation more difficult."