RAMALLAH, West Bank — At an Oct. 16 seminar held in Ramallah to discuss the role of foreign support in promoting the private sector, a group of economists concluded that the importance of the private sector in Palestine’s economic growth did not translate into the necessary level of attention or size of funding allocated to that end. 

Foreign support consists of the donations and aid offered by foreign countries to the Palestinian Authority (PA) as per the Oslo Accord signed in October 1993 and which were set at $2.4 billion. This amount, which would be paid in installments over the years, aims at funding the building of the PA’s institutions and development works.

The seminar, organized by the Palestine Economic Policy Research Institute - MAS, came in the context of a study, which is currently being revised before publication, conducted by MAS on foreign support to the Gaza Strip. The seminar, which was attended by economic experts and representatives of the private sector, aims to measure the effect of foreign support on the private sector, which is one of the pillars and engines of the Palestinian economy.

In this regard, director of the study Samir Abdallah told Al-Monitor, “The private sector was allocated a slight share of foreign support; in other words, less than 5.2% of the total amount estimated at $230 million throughout the period between 2002 and 2014.”