Palestinian finance minister puts 2007 "funding needs" at 2.7bn dollars.

(From BBC Monitoring International Reports)

Text of report by Palestinian newspaper Al-Ayyam website on 29 March

[Report on interview with PNA Finance Minister Salam Fayyad by unidentified Al-Ayyam correspondent in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia - date not given]

In an interview with Al-Ayyam, Dr Salam Fayyad, Finance Minister, said the Palestinian funding needs for 2007 amount to $2.7 billion, expressing the hope that the Arabs and Europeans will help fill this gap and welcoming at the same time the draft resolution expected to be adopted by the Arab summit providing financial aid to the Palestinian [National] Authority for one year to the tune of $660 million. Fayyad, who is accompanying President Mahmud Abbas to the Riyadh summit, added: "The Arab draft resolution calls for support to the …