How Palestinian exports of $1 billion impact trade deficit

Governmental and nongovernmental parties in Palestine are trying to support the export sector in a bid to reduce the trade deficit and dependency on the Israeli economy.
Palestinians cover cartons containing vegetables before exporting them to Israel, at the Kerem Shalom crossing in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip March 12, 2015. Israel imported its first fruit and vegetables from the Gaza Strip in almost eight years on Thursday, in a partial easing of an economic blockade maintained since the Islamist group Hamas seized control of the Palestinian territory. Twenty-seven tonnes of tomatoes and five tonnes of eggplants were trucked across the border under an Israeli plan t
Palestinians cover cartons containing vegetables before exporting them to Israel, at the Kerem Shalom crossing in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, March 12, 2015. - REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa
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Entsar Abu Jahal
@entsarabujahal
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GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — For the first time in the history of Palestinian trade, Palestinian exports exceeded the $1 billion mark in 2017. On World Statistics Day (Oct. 20), the head of the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS), Ola Awad, released the data on Palestinian exports.

Economic experts, however, believe that this is a small rise with no impact on the Palestinian trade deficit. Palestinian imports reached $5.3 billion in 2017, according to the PCBS, while Gaza’s total exports amounted to $8.3 million, which constitutes 0.78% only of the total Palestinian exports for 2017. This reflects the bad situation of Gaza’s export sector, due to the Israeli blockade and the prevailing political conditions.

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