Trends in Banking Facilities in Palestine in 2020

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-        I may be devoting myself to study and reading. These days ... it constitutes larger than that study ..in. the days of youth.... Perhaps I distance myself from the tightness, the constant chest-constriction, in a peaceful manner..!..because of the political conditions ..and how far the Palestinian cause has reached, neglected by all parties. Despite all the agreements.....it has not even found a line in which to insert its name in the ordering of the priorities of many ..of the rulers of the world ...and among them some of our own people..!..not even on the waiting list..!

This morning I was going to buy bread from the bakery in my neighborhood in Al-Bireh, and I was stunned at the extent of the oppression that the Zionist military occupation continues to impose on the patient owners of this holy land. When the announcer on the morning news bulletin today, on one of the Palestinian local radio stations, announced that the Palestinian government had submitted a request to the occupation authorities to allow vaccine containers to pass through the crossings in order to vaccinate citizens against the Coronavirus, especially since Israel, the occupying state, had decided to close the crossings and bridges without informing the patient Palestinians... many travelers who are also abroad and near the homeland will be stranded; they cannot return.....! And I recalled, for example, Rifaiya who would say in similar situations, “By God, who cares who is dancing in the dark?” As long as we have not changed our way of thinking... Nevertheless, we are determined to live and to hope, no matter how long it takes... and history is present and evident before us. With persistence and conscious will, rights will return — through unity, solidarity, and genuine cohesion, and through knowledge and work... and the establishment and protection of the true foundations of democracy in Palestine... sincerely..!

-        We return to the economy and finance.. and to my original posts.. and before resuming writing, I will take (المبسبس ) with tea flavored with Persian thyme.. or Iraqi thyme.. as some rural neighborhoods call it.... and on this rainy good day...!

-        The total value of banking facilities granted by the banks operating in Palestine on 31-12-2020 amounted to 10,075 million dollars..(ten billion, and seventy-five million dollars), an increase over that at the end of 2019 by 1,040 million dollars (one billion and forty-one million US dollars).

-        The paths of the increase amount in the banking facilities mentioned were directed to two sectors in 2020: the public sector and the private sector, according to the following analysis:

1-    Public sector (Palestinian National Authority): an increase in banking facilities of 648 million dollars:

-        The total value of facilities granted to the public sector (Palestinian National Authority) at the end of 2020 amounted to 2,205 million dollars (two billion two hundred and five million dollars), an increase over its bank facilities at the end of 2019 of (an amount of 648 million dollars). This increase was represented in loan facilities granted to the public sector, which rose by 456 million dollars, and current-account debit facilities for the same sector also increased by 192 million dollars.. Thus the Palestinian National Authority during 2020 captured more than approximately 61% of the increase in facilities of banks operating in Palestine in 2020, while the private sector received 39% of the increase in bank facilities this year 2020.. This indicates the extent to which the Palestinian National Authority competes and vies with the private sector for obtaining bank credit, despite the rise in the domestic indebtedness of the National Authority ..which is in an undesirable direction for the development of the Palestinian economy. Such a capture may be attributed to the government's financial distress, arising from the Coronavirus pandemic and the accompanying measures in 2020, and the lack of funds for emergency governmental spending, especially under the emergency circumstances at home and abroad throughout the world... not to mention the continual Israeli intimidation by withholding the Palestinians' funds called clearance revenues, which are the main source for the government's treasury, (financial data taken from Table No. 18 of the Palestine Monetary Authority: Distribution of total facilities by sector, type and region).

2-     (Private sector): an increase in banking facilities of 414 million dollars.

-        The total banking facilities for the private sector at the end of 2020 amounted to 7,822 million dollars (seven billion eight hundred twenty-two million dollars), an increase over the end of 2019 (by 414 million dollars), where the increase came in the value of loans granted which reached 6,904 million dollars, an increase over the end of 2019 by 452 million dollars, while current-account debit facilities for the private sector decreased by (68 million dollars), amounting at the end of 2020 to 795 million dollars... As for the value of lease facilities ending with ownership, they increased by 30 million dollars, with a balance at the end of 2020 of 122 million dollars. It is evident during my study of such data that the increase in facilities even in the private sector was not, as it seems from the analysis, employed for substantive economic development.. The increase in private-sector facilities came from increased consumer loan facilities (+ 46 million dollars), increased vehicle financing (+ 128 million dollars), and an increase in business services and consumer services (+ 289 million dollars).. in addition to an increase in the value of health care by 33 million dollars as a result of the Coronavirus pandemic and preparations to confront it... as shown in Table No. 23 of the Palestine Monetary Authority's data, relating to the sectoral distribution of banking facilities for the third quarter of 2020. Meanwhile, facilities granted to the foreign and domestic trade sector declined in 2020, as the value of these facilities fell in 2020 by 185 million dollars. These facilities could have stimulated the economy and increased the Palestinian economy's GDP. Therefore, the banking facilities this year did not provide any incentives for economic growth, even if the increase in banking facilities for 2020 reached 1,040 million dollars...!

-        Date 30-1-2021