RAMALLAH, June 22, 2011 (WAFA) - The deficit value of the Current Account amounted to US$681 million, 35% of the GDP in current prices, for the first quarter of 2011, said the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) and Palestine Monetary Authority (PMA) Wednesday.

The deficit of Current Account was caused mainly by the deficit in the Trade Balance of goods which was US$1,225 million, 64 % of the GDP in current prices. The deficit in Services Balance amounted to US$46 million.

The surplus in Income Balance, compensations of employees and investments income amounted to US$281 million due to surplus in Compensations of Employees working in Israel which reached US$237 million.

Meanwhile, the received investments income amounted to US$24 million, caused mainly by interest received on Palestinian deposits in banks abroad.

According to the Balance of Current Transfers, the surplus value amounted to US$309 million, of which 74% was from donors and 26% from other sectors.

The value of the Net Capital and Financial Account amounted to US$662 million, of which US$107 million for the Net Capital Account was caused mainly by donors’ capital transfers, in addition to US$555 million for the Net Financial Account, US$48 million for Net Direct Investments, US$10 million for Net Portfolio Investments, US$479 million for Net Other Investments and US$18 million as a decrease in Reserve Assets.

The Balance of Payments (BOP) is an account measuring transactions between residents and non-residents in a given period. It is considered to be the peak of efforts in preparing systematic economic statistics that are necessary for observing economic performance in general, and for deriving essential data used in compiling the rest of the world account as part of the Palestinian National Accounts.

BOP consists of two main accounts, the Current Account and the Capital and Financial Account.

T.R./F.J.