Preliminary Banking Data in Palestine 2018 — Part Two

·       credit facilities ...Part Two --- Section (A).

-        The role of banks in the economic development of any country is fundamentally vital, and in Palestine it is even more necessary because banks finance the public sector and the private sector, finance the government’s fiscal gaps, and lend to it during recurring times of hardship..., where banks were able to continue their service work, develop the types of their services, and expand the geographic scope of their reach across all areas, despite the fact that the countryside in Palestine still lags behind in banking revival for many reasons including the classification of more than 60% of the West Bank lands – the countryside – as Area (C), which restricts the services of banks and the state to the furthest limits in those areas.. in addition to the economic non-viability of rural areas from the perspective of banking business.. and we clearly note the internal migration from the countryside to the cities and to the Ramallah and Al-Bireh area in particular...!!. And the impact of that..!! In the first publication we published the bank deposits.. As for this publication, the credit facilities data will be presented in two parts (A) and (B) that will show you by their presentation the indicators and the method of distribution of the credit facilities, which clearly concentrated more than 54% of the facilities in Ramallah and Al-Bireh Governorate, and the concentration of facilities in real estate and domestic and foreign trade, about 40% of total facilities to the private sector, while the share of consumer loans was 16% which is high but does not serve the general development goals and solving unemployment problems and reducing wealth disparities and inequality, whereas auto financing accounted for more than 4%... while facilities to the agricultural sector were less than 2% and the industrial sector no more than 5%.. and it is clear that the credit facilities were not directed to productive and investment businesses but the orientation was strikingly toward consumer loans, financing domestic trade, and auto financing.. as you will see from reading the numbers.... And as is known, banks operate in times of peace and times of war.. and cross borders and invest... as for Palestine.. their role will be deeper and more dangerous.. because they are under Israeli occupation which does not limit its repression to individuals only, but extends to tightening and obstructing the financial institutions operating in Palestine.!!

-        The total credit facilities granted to individuals and persons and the public sector and the private sector in 2018 amounted to 8,438 million dollars, of which loans amounted to 6,991 million dollars, while the banking facilities that in 2018 were in the form of overdrafts amounted to 1,371 million dollars... It should be noted that facilities granted in 2018 increased over facilities of 2017 by 411 million dollars.. most of the increase was in loans...(Table 18)

-        The facilities granted (to the public sector) in the West Bank and Gaza Strip amounted to 1,316 million dollars... of which in the form of (loans) in 2018 amounted to 788 million US dollars, while the facilities granted to this public sector in the form of (overdraft) for the same year -2018- amounted to 528 million dollars... a decrease from 2017 by 160 million dollars.. As for the facilities granted (to the resident private sector) in the West Bank.... they amounted to 6,085 million dollars, an increase over 2017 by 601 million dollars. The majority of the increase is in loans.... Of these facilities granted to the private sector.. in 2018 loans amounted to 5,304 million dollars... while the banking facilities granted (to the resident private sector) in 2018 in the form of (overdraft) amounted to 709 million dollars... Also the banking facilities to the private sector in the form of (trade finance) in 2018 amounted to 73 million dollars..
As for the credit facilities granted to the resident private sector in the Gaza Strip for the year 2018, their amount was 950 million dollars, a decrease from the 2017 facilities for Gaza Strip – the private sector – by 36 million dollars.. As for the credit facilities granted to non-resident persons in 2018 which were in the form of loans, they amounted to 86 million dollars.

-        The distribution of total facilities to the resident private sector in (the West Bank).. amounting to 6,085 million dollars, an increase over 2017 by 11%..., distributed by area and beneficiary.. In (the West Bank) the facilities granted to resident companies.... in 2018 amounted to 3,402 million US dollars, an increase over 2017 by 390 million dollars... As for the banking facilities granted to resident individuals in 2018 they amounted to 2,491 million dollars... an increase over 2017 by 125 million dollars... As for the credit facilities in the form of credit cards in 2018 they were about 38 million dollars, an increase over 2017 by 3 million dollars... As for the banking facilities granted as non-profit family assistance services they were 66 million dollars, an increase over 2017 by 44 million dollars..!! As for facilities existing as stagnant overdrafts in 2018 they were 87 million dollars, an increase over 2017 by 39 million dollars... As for the Gaza Strip, the total facilities for the resident private sector in 2018 were 1,038 million dollars..!(Table No. 19)

-        Table No. (20) shows the distribution of total facilities granted (to the public sector).. by type and region.. in 2018, in the West Bank... the loans granted to the Palestinian National Authority amounted to 780 million dollars, a decrease from 2017 loans by 186 million dollars... As for the banking facilities granted to the public sector in 2018 in the form of overdraft, they amounted to 526 million dollars... an increase over 2017 by 22 million dollars... The total facilities granted to the public sector in the West Bank and Gaza Strip amounted to 1,315 million dollars of which 1,306 million dollars were in the West Bank!!

-        Table No. (21) clarified the distribution of total facilities in the third quarter of 2018 by region: the banking facilities granted in the third quarter of 2018 in the West Bank amounted to 7,328 million dollars, an increase of 8% over the third quarter of 2017, and their distribution for the third quarter of 2018 by areas and percentages of the total of these facilities was as follows:

-        Ramallah and Al-Bireh: amount 3,958 million dollars, 54%; Bethlehem: amount 464 million dollars, 6%; Hebron: 513 million dollars, 7%; Jericho: amount 166 million dollars, 2%; Tulkarm: amount 192 million dollars, 2%; as for Nablus: the amount was 996 million dollars, 14% ..while Jenin: the third-quarter facilities of 2018 amounted to 367 million dollars, 5%....

-        As for the Gaza Strip in total, the amount of facilities granted in the third quarter of 2018 to all areas of the Gaza Strip was 965 million dollars... and total Gaza facilities across all its areas constitute 11% of the total facilities of the West Bank and Gaza Strip...!!

-        Table No. (22) shows the distribution of facilities by sector, currency and region; the banking facilities granted to the public sector in 2018 in Israeli shekels amounted to the equivalent of 960 million US dollars, while the facilities to the public sector in Jordanian dinars were equivalent to 219 million US dollars.. as for in (dollars), they were equivalent to 119 million US dollars.

-        As for the distribution of banking facilities granted to the resident private sector in the West Bank and Gaza Strip in 2018.. in shekels they were equivalent to 2,135 million US dollars of which an amount equivalent to 1,870 million US dollars was in the West Bank, while facilities in Jordanian dinars were equivalent to 1,010 million US dollars of which an amount equivalent to 841 million US dollars was in the West Bank. Regarding facilities in dollars for the private sector they were equivalent to 3,763 million US dollars... of which an amount equivalent to 3,258 million dollars was in the West Bank... It is worth noting that the proportion of facilities granted to the resident private sector for 2018 in the West Bank amounted to 86% of the total facilities granted to the resident private sector in all currencies.. It is clear that the facilities granted in the West Bank in 2018 to the resident private sector in US dollars constituted 54% of total facilities granted in all currencies, followed by the Israeli shekel at 31%.. while the proportion of facilities granted in shekels to the public sector in 2018 was 73%.. followed in second place by the Jordanian dinar at 17%... And it is known that the debtor interest rates for borrowing in Israeli shekel are the highest among debtor interest rates, while the interest on the dollar and borrowing in it, which constituted the main currency borrowed by the resident private sector, is the lowest percentage compared to other currencies

-        Date 8-2-2019