GZ Emergency Budget Support Supplemental

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The supplemental grant for the Palestinian National Development Plan and Sixth Development Policy Grant Project for West Bank and Gaza will have significant impact and benefits. The quick disbursement of the supplemental grant will assist the Palestinian Authority (PA) in meeting the immediate, urgent and enormous needs for relief and reconstruction of the conflict-stricken Gaza. While the financing need is substantially larger than the proposed grant amount, the Bank's decision to provide urgent assistance is also likely to encourage other donors who contribute to the Palestinian Reconstruction and Development Plan to provide additional budget support through this mechanism. The proposed grant along with other extraordinary financing will help the PA prevent a humanitarian disaster in Gaza without reducing its ability to maintain basic functions, to pay salaries, social benefits, and suppliers at the time of economic recession. As various studies of conflict and fragility have shown, if governments are not able to fulfill the core functions expected of them in terms of basic public services, social unrest may ensue: the Bank and other donors are providing grants to reduce that risk.