The Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) and the Palestine Monetary Authority (PMA) said in their joint report on the preliminary results of Palestine’s Balance of Payments in the third quarter, that the deficit in its current account (goods, services, income, current transfers) reached $316 million.
Reportedly, this was mainly triggered by the deficit of the trade balance of goods, which reached $1,464 million, as well as the deficit in the services balance, which amounted to $272 million, they said.
The surplus in income account (compensations of employees and investments income) amounted to $906 million due to compensations of the employees working in Israel, which reached $848 million.
The received investments income of $69 million was mainly caused by the income received on the portfolio investments abroad, in addition to the interest received on the Palestinian deposits in banks abroad, said sources.
The current transfers achieved a surplus value amounted to $514 million, a decrease of 1 percent compared to the previous quarter, said the PMA and PCBS in their report.
The total transfers from abroad amounted to $602 million, of which 17 percent were the transfers to the government sector, while the percentage of the transfers to other sectors reached 83 percent and the donors’ current transfers constituted 13 percent of total transfers from abroad, local media have said.
The preliminary results showed a surplus value for the capital and financial account amounting to $222 million, mainly caused by the surplus in the capital account which amounted to $114 million.
There was an increase in the reserve assets at PMA, which amounted to $10 million, compared to an increase of $50 million in the previous quarter, said reports.