Crisis-stricken Hamas borrows from local banks

The Hamas movement has been forced to borrow from the local banks to fund the salaries of its 45,000 employees amid low local revenues, costly subsidies and declining Qatari financial grants.

A source in the Ministry of Finance in Gaza revealed to Al-Monitor that the monthly employee salary bill amounts to 100 million shekels ($29.411 million). These funds, he explained, would be secured in previous years through tax revenues and the Qatari financial grant of $30 million per month, a third of this grant was allocated to payroll.

Moin Rajab, an economics professor at Al-Azhar University in Gaza, warned the financial crisis in Gaza will worsen, telling Al-Monitor he expects Hamas to struggle to pay the salary bill of its employees in the coming months. “The best solution would be for Hamas to persuade Qatar to increase its financial grant offered to employees every month in an attempt to inject reasonable liquidity in the Ministry of Finance’s treasury.”