RAMALLAH, February 5, 2018 (WAFA) – Palestine, its people and institutions are capable of implementing the decisions of the Palestinian Central Council and gradually break away from dependence on Israel, the head of the Palestinian Economic Council for Development and Reconstruction (PECDAR) and member of Fatah Central Committee, Mohammad Shtayyeh, said on Monday.
Shtayyeh said in a statement that achieving this goal comes through a number of measures, including strengthen national production and expanding the production capacity of the Palestinian economy, especially in agriculture and industry. He stressed that this demands that the government allocate resources for this goal.
He also said that supporting the national product should come with policies to boycott Israeli products.
He also said it is important to stop using the Israeli currency, the shekel, in daily transactions in Palestine, calling for considering other currencies, including digital currencies.
“Absence of a local currency is causing the Palestinian economy huge losses while deepening dependence on the Israeli economy,” said Shtayyeh, who also stressed the need to review the tax system to fit it with the living standard of the Palestinian people, especially the value added tax, which the Paris Economic Protocol says it should not be different by more than two percentage points from the rate in Israel.
He said the Paris protocol burdens the Palestinians and that it is possible to reduce the value added tax on national products as an incentive to producers.
“The agreement must be cancelled because Israel killed it and did not meet most of its provisions,” Shtayyeh said. “Israel violated freedom of movement of Palestinians and goods through barriers, sieges and the on-going closures, in addition to the military measures that obstructed the development of the Palestinian economy.”
He stressed the need for changing the existing trade balance in which Palestine imports $5 billion worth of goods from Israel annually while the latter imports less than $750 million worth of goods from Palestine.
K.T./M.K.
