Gaza money traders profit from dollar-shekel exchange rate manipulations

Gazans are calling for tighter monitoring by the authorities over money traders, who they believe are manipulating dollar-shekel exchange rates to their advantage.
A Palestinian employee paid by the Palestinian Authority shows money to the camera after withdrawing cash from an ATM machine outside a bank, in Gaza City June 11, 2014. Gaza's public sector union suspended protests on Wednesday that had paralysed the local economy and threatened the deal on a Palestinian unity government but said it would resume its action if its members were not promptly paid. The pay dispute involving some 40,000 public servants erupted last week shortly after Hamas, which has ruled Gaza
A Palestinian employee paid by the Palestinian Authority shows money to the camera after withdrawing cash from an ATM machine outside a bank, in Gaza City, June 11, 2014. - REUTERS/Mohammed Salem
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Iyad Qatrawi
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The varying exchange rate of the dollar in the Gaza Strip from one trader to another may give way to a black market as the demand for dollars grows, especially on paydays, when there is a lack of liquidity. It seems that money traders are in control of the exchange rate and are unmonitored as they seek to increase their profits.

Ayman Moussa, who works for the Palestinian Ministry of Education, was visibly angry as he stood in front of the Palestinian Islamic Bank in Gaza and mumbled indignantly.

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