Eight per cent decline in domestic personal transfers in Palestine during first quarter of 2014

Data issued by the Palestinian Monetary Authority (PMA), which carries out the work of the Central Bank, indicate that the total amount of domestic personal transfers made by Palestinians in the Palestinian territories amounted to $1.557 billion during the first quarter of 2014, compared to $1.693 billion during the first quarter of 2013, an 8 per cent decline, Anadolu news agency reported.

According to the official Palestinian data, which Anadolu obtained a copy of on Wednesday, the number of personal transfers made by Palestinians during the first three months of 2014 was about 35,078 within the Palestinian territories (the West Bank and the Gaza Strip).

The data also shows that the value of the internal transfers made in the Israeli shekel is about NIS 3.676 billion ($1.035 billion), amounting to 66.9 per cent of the total value of transfers. The number of shekel transfers made during the first quarter of 2014 reached 17,940.

In the Palestinian market, there are four major currencies that are traded as a result of the Oslo Accord and the Paris Economic Protocol of 1993, which stipulated the use of the Israeli shekel as a circulated currency, as well as the Jordanian dinar, the US dollar, and for the past several years, the European euro has been used as well.

Based on the PMA data, the value of internal transfers made in the Jordanian dinar reached about JD 99.659 ($143.172 million), 9.5 per cent of the total transfers made in 2014. The number of dinar transfers made during the first three months of this year was about 5,626.

The value of internal transfers made in the US dollar during this period was about $351,358,619, which makes up 22.7 per cent of the total value of transfers during this time. The number of dollar transfers reached 10,902.

And finally, the value of internal transfers made in euros was about €9,991,553 ($13.65 million), totalling 0.9 per cent of the total value of transfers. The number of euro transfers reached 610, according to the official data.

The Central Bureau of Statistics reports that the total number of Palestinians living in the Palestinian territories is about 4.3 million people, while the total value of deposits made by Palestinians in banks operating in Palestine is about $9 billion, as of the end of the second trimester of 2014.