Effects of the Israeli genocidal war in the Gaza Strip on customer deposits at Palestinian banks

● Statistics of the Palestine Monetary Authority (PMA) for 2023 showed that the value of customers' deposits at banks operating in Palestine, and the value of banking facilities granted to customers at the end of 2023, , were not materially affected, nor were any large withdrawals from customers' deposits at banks operating in Palestine even observed, as a result of the course of the genocidal war being waged by the Israeli occupation army and its partners, especially since deposits of the Gaza Strip ... statistically constitute only a small percentage of the total volume of customers' deposits in Palestine (the West Bank and the Gaza Strip)... where the share of customers' deposits in the Gaza Strip... was about 12% , whether in 2023 or in previous years.!, while the West Bank captured the largest share of total deposits in Palestine, where the share of customers' deposits in the West Bank reached ..more than 88%... , and customers' deposits at banks in Palestine at the end of 2023, compared to their counterpart at the end of 2022, increased by 1,121 million dollars (one billion, one hundred and twenty-one million dollars)..The increase in customers' deposits was 619 million dollars in the West Bank, and 502 million dollars for customers in the Gaza Strip. (A high increase, relative to their share of total deposits for 2023).....where the total of these deposits, as of 31-12-2023, amounted to 17,589 million dollars (seventeen billion, five hundred and eighty-nine million dollars)..

● However, the preliminary statistics for January – Kanun al-Thani 2024 – which are under review at the Palestine Monetary Authority – showed a relative decline in the value of customers' deposits at these banks, whether in the West Bank or the Gaza Strip, compared with customers' deposits in 12-2023, and the decrease amounted to 169 million dollars..!

● In a geographic comparison of customers' deposits (by governorates) at the end of 2023, according to Palestine Monetary Authority statistics, Ramallah and Al-Bireh Governorate received deposits amounting to 6,164 million dollars (six billion, one hundred and sixty-four million dollars) at the end of 2023, i.e. about 40% of total deposits of the West Bank. (While at the end of 2022, it was 43% of total West Bank deposits), and the shares of major governorates of total customers' deposits in the West Bank were as follows: Hebron Governorate with 11%, Nablus Governorate with 13%, while Jenin Governorate accounted for 7%... whereas Ramallah and Al-Bireh's deposits in 2023 decreased compared to 2022 by 171 million dollars, while Hebron Governorate's deposits increased in 2023 compared to 2022 by 155 million dollars.. Whereas Nablus Governorate's deposits increased by 161 million dollars in 2023 compared to 2022.. While Jenin Governorate's deposits increased by 50 million dollars in 2023 compared to 2022 !

● As for the total banking facilities granted and outstanding to customers by banks operating in Palestine, their total at the end of 2023 amounted to 11,983 million dollars (eleven billion, nine hundred and eighty-three million dollars), an increase of 938 million dollars compared to total facilities granted at the end of 2022, noting that the increase in the value of banking facilities in 2023 compared to their counterpart at the end of 2022 included all targeted facility sectors, except the tourism, hotels and restaurants sector, whose facilities decreased in 2023 compared to 2022 from 107 million dollars in 2022 to 103.8 million dollars, in addition to the consumer loans sector, where these facilities fell from 1,436 million dollars in 2022 to 1,303 million dollars in 2023.. As for other sectors, as noted, facilities directed to them increased in 2023 compared to 2022 despite the war in the fourth quarter of 2023; for example, the auto and vehicle financing sector , its facilities increased in 2023 by 88 million dollars.. i.e. by about 21%..., where it amounted to 423 million dollars in 2022, while it reached 511 million dollars in 2023...!!

● As for the total outstanding facilities in month 1-2024 (preliminary information under review and examination) they amounted to 11,860 million dollars (eleven billion, eight hundred and sixty million dollars, down from 12-2023 by 122 million dollars,

● The behavior of depositors in the West Bank at the banks operating there was not negatively affected in 2023, including the outbreak of the October war in its fourth quarter; rather deposits increased relatively normally… as the Palestine Monetary Authority statistics above indicated, except for the beginning of the current year 2024.. where the value of deposits fell in January 2024 as we noted above.... This does not mean that the Palestinian economy is healthy and well.. The truth is that the Palestinian economy has also been annihilated in the Gaza Strip, ..and the weakness of the economy in the West Bank..to the point that it can no longer stand on its feet.. as a result of the war..!!, since the Palestinian economy in general ..remains highly dependent on the Israeli economy, its customs envelopes, and its border crossings..., and the loss by the Palestinian economy of hundreds of thousands of workers in Palestine of 1948 and other affiliated areas of their work due to the war... and this was a sector that constituted one of the levers of cash liquidity in the Palestinian market, but it has now become one of the levers raising unemployment levels in Palestine.. and increasing inflation rates in the Palestinian market.. in addition to losing most of its infrastructure in the Gaza Strip.. not to mention the withholding of Palestinian clearance revenues by the Israeli occupation authorities.. which impose crippling conditions in exchange for releasing them ... that affect the dignity and sovereignty of Palestinians and their values .. not to mention the weakness of incoming international grants.. knowing that the aid of all Arab governments had stopped since before the Corona crisis.. and until now.... no one among them answers the call to prayer in our holy lands anymore..!!... some of them have been preoccupied with performing the rites and rituals of the Abrahamic religion which are considered the framework of normalization with Israel... some have died in them.... and some are waiting!