RAMALLAH, West Bank — On April 13, Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh made his first appearance on Palestine TV after taking office and pledged to seek alternative currencies for the Israeli shekel, putting his government to the test.
“The Palestinian economy has about 25 billion shekels [$7 billion] circulating in the local economy, but we are not forced to remain dependent on the shekel,” Shtayyeh said. “So one of the central issues we will be working on is forming a team to study dropping the shekel, either by resorting to an encrypted currency, digital currency or other options.”