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Vital Palestinian private sector not getting necessary foreign aid

A recent study found that despite the significant role foreign aid plays in the Palestinian economy, the private sector is not receiving the support it deserves.
A worker stands near a conveyor belt at a chocolate and baked goods factory in the West Bank city of Ramallah October 27, 2013. The crackdown on the Gaza Strip as Egypt demolishes the smuggling tunnels along its sandy border, and stagnation in the West Bank mean the Palestinian economy might shrink this year after average annual growth of about nine percent in 2008-2011. To match Analysis PALESTINIANS-ECONOMY/    REUTERS/Mohamad Torokman (WEST BANK - Tags: POLITICS BUSINESS FOOD) - RTX14QCR
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RAMALLAH, West Bank — At an Oct. 16 seminar held in Ramallah to discuss the role of foreign support in promoting the private sector, a group of economists concluded that the importance of the private sector in Palestine’s economic growth did not translate into the necessary level of attention or size of funding allocated to that end. 

Foreign support consists of the donations and aid offered by foreign countries to the Palestinian Authority (PA) as per the Oslo Accord signed in October 1993 and which were set at $2.4 billion. This amount, which would be paid in installments over the years, aims at funding the building of the PA’s institutions and development works.

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