Economic Statistics in Palestine

-       The value of the gross domestic product in (the third quarter of 2020), amounted to 3,506 million dollars, while the value of gross domestic product in (the third quarter of 2019) amounted to 3,930 million dollars), where "the third quarter" means (the time period from 1/7 until 30-9 of the year).

·       (Opinion): It is clearly observable the impact of the Corona pandemic and the accompanying measures and lockdowns to curb it, on the total gross domestic product, as there was a clear decline in the third quarter of 2020 by 424 million dollars, compared to the third quarter of 2019,

-       It is known that the value of the comparative gross domestic product is used to measure the country’s economic growth, and these data were drawn from the Palestine Monetary Authority electronic page up to the third quarter of 2020, "Table No. 44 entitled Gross Domestic Product and Its Expenditure".. which showed a clear decline in the growth of the Palestinian economy for that period, noting that the value of Palestine’s gross domestic product for 2019 amounted to 15,829 million dollars..

-       As for the net exports of goods and services in the third quarter of 2020, and its comparison with the same quarter of 2019, the Palestine Monetary Authority data shown on its electronic page as mentioned earlier, indicated that the value of net exports of goods and services in the third quarter of 2020 amounted to (1,130 million dollars) negative, where exports amounted to 652 million dollars, of which goods were valued at 574 million, and services at 78 million dollars, while imports amounted in the third quarter of the same year (2020) to 1,782 million dollars of which: goods valued at 1,645 million dollars, and services valued at 136 million dollars.

-       It is noticeable that the value of net exports — which is the result of an equation in which the value of imports is subtracted from the value of exports for the same period — is often negative, as a result of the dominance (size) of import data over exports for the same time period in the Palestinian economy.

-       When comparing the data of net exports and their components in the third quarter of 2020 with the data of the same third quarter of 2019, the extent of the national economy’s exposure in Palestine to the effects of the Corona pandemic and the subsequent lockdowns becomes apparent, and the value of net exports of goods and services for the third quarter of 2019 amounted to (1,479 million dollars) negative as well, where the value of exports in 2019 — the third quarter — amounted to 637 million dollars, of which goods were valued at 531 million dollars, in addition to services valued at 106 million dollars, while the value of imports in that period of the year — 2019 — amounted to 2,116 million of which goods were valued at 1,920 million dollars, and services valued at 195 million dollars.

-       And upon close examination by analysts of such net export data in the third quarter of 2020 and their comparison with the same quarter of 2019, it appears that there was a slight increase in the value of exports in the third quarter of 2020 compared to 2019 by 15 million dollars, where the increase appeared in the value of exported goods by 43 million dollars, while there was a decline in the value of exported services in the third quarter of 2020 by 28 million dollars, yet it is clear that Palestinian economy imports in the third quarter of 2020 declined significantly by an amount of 334 million dollars, compared to imports of the third quarter of 2019... — which illustrates the impact of the closures whether borders or markets or quarantine, as a result of the Corona pandemic, and the emergency measures taken to combat the epidemic... it appears that there is a decline in imports of goods in the third quarter of 2020 by 275 million dollars (the decline in the value of imported goods).... And the value of net exports in the third quarter of 2019 appeared larger by (349 million dollars negative) than net exports in the third quarter of 2020... And although an increase in the negative is positive from the perspective of economic analysis and the health of the national economy, since it is expected in every country that its exports be greater than its imports in order to avoid a deficit in the trade balance, and thus a deficit in the annual state budget, such an increase in net exports compared to 2020 remains an indicator of the clear impact of the Corona pandemic on the Palestinian economy ... .

-       On 29-1-2021