Federation of Euro-Asian Stock Exchanges
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Our membership of FEAS is something that we are really proud of. The unique feature of FEAS is the very diverse opposition of its membership and the closeness and great sense of cooperation that exists between the members.
- Mr. Ahmad Aweidah -
Market Future Development
• Launch PEX new website.
• Conclude the development of PEX CSD system, developed in-house.
• The implementation of “X-Stream” trading platform.
• Introducing new products as per market needs.
• List new family business companies
Palestine
The Palestinian economy witnessed minimal real growth in 2018 due to a steep deterioration in Gaza while the West Bank economy continued to grow, albeit at a slower pace. The most recent national accounts data for the first quarter of 2019 reveals a bounce back with the Palestinian economy growing by 3.8 percent year-onyear: 4.2 percent in the West Bank and 2 percent in Gaza. This growth is mostly due to a base effect as the first quarter of 2018 was especially weak. Also, the Palestinian Authority’s (PA) fiscal crises started in March 2019, so its impact was not yet reflected in the first quarter’s GDP data. Overall prices increased by 1.4 percent between January and July 2019, year-on year. The increase was mainly driven by a rise in the West Bank where prices rose by 1.7 percent compared to 0.5 percent in Gaza. The majority of the rise in the West Bank is due to an increase in the prices of food and beverages, which represent a large part of the Palestinian consumer basket. Following a law enacted in 2018, the Government of Israel (GoI) started in March 2019 making deductions of nearly US$12 million per month from the tax revenues it collects on behalf of the PA (clearance revenues). According to the GoI, the deductions are made to offset payments by the PA to Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons and families of those deceased as a result of violence. In response, the PA has refused to accept these transfers altogether. Given that clearance revenues constitute 65 percent of the PA’s total revenues and 15 percent of GDP, their loss has resulted in a severe liquidity squeeze. To make ends meet, the PA had to accrue large arrears to its employees, private suppliers, local government units and the public pension fund in the amount of US$686 million in the first half of 2019. The PA also resorted to additional borrowing from the domestic banking sector,raising its stock of debt to US$1.6 billion, as of June 2019. The external current account deficit (including official transfers) is estimated to have widened in 2018 to 11.4 percent of GDP due to an increase in imports and a drop in transfers. Exports continue to be constrained by the ongoing trade restrictions and have
remained stagnant at around 19-20 percent of GDP, while imports increased by 4 percentage points of GDP in 2018 and reached nearly 60 percent. Current transfers as a share of GDP dropped due to a decline in both private and official transfers. The unemployment rate in the Palestinian territories continues to be high. It reached 26 percent in the second quarter of 2019— almost the same (revised) level it was in 2018. In the West Bank, unemployment reached 15 percent in the second quarter of 2019—2 percentage points lower than its 2018 average mostly due to more jobs created in domestic commerce, hotels and restaurants. The decline in the West Bank was offset by an increase in Gaza where extremely high as it reached 64 percent in the second quarter of 2019.
Economic Outlook
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