GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — For the first time in the history of Palestinian trade, Palestinian exports exceeded the $1 billion mark in 2017. On World Statistics Day (Oct. 20), the head of the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS), Ola Awad, released the data on Palestinian exports.
Economic experts, however, believe that this is a small rise with no impact on the Palestinian trade deficit. Palestinian imports reached $5.3 billion in 2017, according to the PCBS, while Gaza’s total exports amounted to $8.3 million, which constitutes 0.78% only of the total Palestinian exports for 2017. This reflects the bad situation of Gaza’s export sector, due to the Israeli blockade and the prevailing political conditions.
Conversely, Palestinian imports from Israel stood at $3.234 billion in 2017, which is a 3.2% increase compared to 2016 with $3.12 billion worth of imports, according to the PCBS.
Imports from Israel constitute about 60.3% of the total Palestinian imports. This increase comes in tandem with the launching of campaigns to boycott Israeli products by the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement as well as governmental and local nongovernmental organizations.
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