RAMALLAH, Tuesday, December 04, 2018 (WAFA) - Results of the Palestinian Monetary Authority’s extended Business Cycle Index (extended PMABCI) for November revealed that the a decline in Gaza Strip index kept the overall index for Palestine in the negative despite an improvement in the West Bank’s index, the PMA said in a report published on Tuesday on the extended Business Cycle Index for November.

It said this resulted in a relatively stabilized overall index at around -5.9 points. However, it remained slightly higher than the index of November 2017, which stood at -10.0 points, said the report.

In the West Bank, the growth of the trade index (from -2.3 to 0.1 points), along with the improvement in the industrial index (from 1.0 to 1.4 points) have managed to lift the overall index up from 3.8 points in the previous month to around 5.3 points this November. However, the remaining sectors experienced declines, particularly the transport and storage index (from 0.9 to 0.2 points) and the agriculture index (from 3.6 to 3.1 points). Meanwhile, the falls in indices of the renewable energy, the IT and telecommunications, and the construction were minor.

Overall, the increase in the West Bank‘s index reflected higher sales during November that resulted in lower inventory levels, as indicated by the economic firms‘ owners. However, owners expressed less optimistic expectations about production in the coming three months.

Conversely, Gaza Strip index resumed declining after two consecutive months of gradual improvement, sliding to -32.3 points compared to -28.7 points in last October. This resulted as all sectors fell, except of an improvement in the industrial index (from -6.1 to -4.9 points). The agriculture sector scored the main decline as its index dropped from -2.0 to -4.4 points, followed by another decrease in the trade index (from -18.4 to -19.7 points). The fall in the remaining sectors were slight and by less than 0.5 points for each; construction, transport and storage, and IT and telecommunications which achieved -1.7 points, -1.4 points and -0.2 points, respectively. Meanwhile, the renewable energy index stabilized at the previous value of 0.0 points.

It is worth noting that the Gaza index has always registered negative values since the PMA started calculating the extended indices two years ago. These negative values reflect the adverse long-lasting political and economic conditions in the Strip, the continued Israeli siege, and the prolonged delays in reconstruction efforts, and the weak demand.

Moreover, production and sales during this month declined as indicated by Gazan firms‘ owners. The same is for the future expectations about employment in the coming three months, where the level of pessimism remained high.

It is noteworthy that the extended PMABCI is a monthly index, which aims at capturing the state and evolution of economic activity in Palestine by tracking sectoral performance (especially fluctuations in production and employment levels.

M.K.