RAMALLAH, December 21, 2016 (WAFA) – Deficit in current account dropped by almost 20 percent during third quarter in comparison to the second quarter and reached $314.4 million, a joint report by the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) and the Palestine Monetary Authority (PMA) said on Wednesday.

Preliminary results of the balance of payments showed an incessant deficit in the current account (goods, services, income, current transfers, which totaled $314.4 million marking a decrease of 19.6% compared to the previous quarter, it said.

This decrease in deficit was mainly triggered by the decline in the deficit of the trade balance of goods by 4.5 percent, which reached $1,066.8 million, as well as the decline of deficit in services balance by about 4.4 percent, which  amounted to$221.7 million due to decrease in the import of transportation services in addition to other business services.

The surplus in income account (compensations of employees and investments income) amounted to $401.3 million with a decrease of 0.7% compared to the previous quarter. This surplus was due to compensations of employees working in Israel, which reached $377.3 million.

As for the received investments income, it amounted to $46.7 million and was mainly caused by the income received on the portfolio investments abroad, in addition to the interest received on deposits in banks abroad.

The current transfers achieved a surplus value amounting to $572.8 million with an increase of 3.5 percent compared to the previous quarter. This was due to the increase of the transfers of donors to the government sector, which contributed 22.0 percent of total transfers from abroad, while the transfers to other sectors (mainly private sector) was 78.0 percent. The donors’ current transfers constituted 31.9% of total transfers from abroad.

The results showed a surplus value for the capital and financial account amounting to $281.6 million with an increase of 2.4 percent compared to the previous quarter, the surplus in the capital and financial account was mainly caused by the surplus in the capital account, which reached $86.6 million and the surplus in financial account, which amounted to $195.0 million.

There was a decrease in the reserve assets at PMA amounting to $66.6 million, with a decrease of $62.0 million compared to the previous quarter.

M.K.