Suriname has backed down from its decision to open an embassy in Jerusalem due to “budget shortages.”

Channel 12 Israel said on Friday: “Suriname President Chan Santohi announced early Friday morning before the Surinamese National Assembly that the opening of his country’s embassy in Jerusalem will be cancelled.”

“There is no budget to establish a Surinamese embassy in Israel,” the Surinamese president was quoted as saying.

Surinamese Foreign Minister Albert Camden visited Israel last month, where Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid quoted him as saying he had decided to open an embassy in Jerusalem “soon.”

Suriname, a South American republic, does not have an embassy in Israel, but two months ago it announced the appointment of a non-resident ambassador to Israel.

So far, only 4 countries have opened embassies in Jerusalem: the United States, Honduras, Guatemala, and Kosovo.

The vast majority of countries in the world opposed moving their embassies from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem before a political solution was reached between the Palestinians and the Israelis.

Israel insists that Jerusalem, both eastern and western, is its capital, while the Palestinians demand that East Jerusalem be the future capital of the Palestinian state within the 1967 borders.