RAMALLAH, Tuesday, October 27, 2020 (WAFA) - There were 145,628 enterprises in the private and non-government sectors in Palestine in 2019 (98,181 enterprises in the West Bank and 47,447 enterprises in Gaza Strip), with a growth rate of 3.8 % compared with 2018, today said the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS).

These enterprises are operating in different economic sectors, and distributed as follows: internal trade activities 55.2%, services 28.5%, industry 14.2%, transportation and storage 0.7%, while each of the information and communications activities and construction activities constituted 0.5%, and the finance and insurance activities constituted 0.4%, it said.

Number of enterprises in private and non-government sectors by economic activity and region in 2019:

There were 549,740 employed persons in economic enterprises operating in Palestine (369,290 employed persons in the West Bank and 180,450 employed persons in Gaza Strip), with a growth rate of 11.0% compared with 2018, added PCBS.

Internal trade activities constituted the highest percentage among employees with a percentage of 39.8% of the total number of employees, while services constituted 30.4%, industry 22.1%, finance and insurance activities were 2.7%, construction activities were 1.9%, and the percentages of the information and communications and transportation and storage activities reached 1.6% and 1.5%, respectively.

The number of employees ranged between unpaid employees (owners of the enterprises and their household members) which constituted 35.0% of the total number of employees, and wage employees, that constituted 65.0% of the total number of employees. The total value of compensation for the wage employees reached $2,829.3 million.

The total value of output by economic enterprises was $15,610.7 million in Palestine ($13,270.3 million in the West Bank and $2,340.4 million in Gaza Strip) with a growth rate of 7.6% compared with 2018. Internal trade activities constituted 33.5% from the total output followed by industrial activities that constituted 33.0%, services activities reached 18.2%, finance and insurance activities reached 6.4%, information and communications reached 4.3%, while percentages of construction activities and transportation and storage activities reached 3.2% and 1.4%, respectively.

Results show that the total value added of economic activities in 2019 was $10,298.1 million with a growth rate of 10.6% compared with 2018. The highest value-added was from the internal trade activities with a percentage of 41.8%, followed by industry activities with a percentage of 22.1%, services activities with a percentage of 20.6%, finance and insurance activities with a percentage of 6.9%, information and communications activities with a percentage of 5.2%, construction 2.1%, and transportation and storage at a percentage of 1.3%.

M.K.