RAMALLAH, Monday, December 26, 2022 (WAFA) - The Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) and the Palestine Monetary Authority (PMA) announced today the preliminary results of the Palestinian balance of payments for the third quarter of 2022 with a deficit of $604 million in the current account (goods, services, income, current transfers).

They said that the deficit was mainly triggered by the deficit of the trade balance of goods, which reached $2,113 million, as well as the deficit in the services balance, which amounted to $352 million.

The surplus in income account (compensations of employees and investments income) amounted to $1,093 million, they said. This surplus was due to compensations of the employees working in Israel, which reached $1,063 million.

As for the received investments income, it amounted to $74 million; and 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.

The current transfers achieved a surplus value amounting to $768 million, said the PCBS and the PMA, where the current transfers for the government sector constituted 29% of the total transfers from abroad, while the percentage of the transfers to other sectors reached 71%. The donors’ current transfers constituted 25% of total transfers from abroad.

The preliminary results showed a surplus value for the capital and financial account amounting to $407 million, caused mainly by the surplus in the financial account, which amounted to $294 million. There was an increase in the reserve assets at PMA amounting to $175 million, compared to a decrease of $34 million in the previous quarter.

M.K.