The Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) and the Palestine Monetary Authority (PMA) in announcing today the preliminary results of the Palestinian Balance of Payments for the second quarter of 2023 said that an incessant deficit in the current account (goods, services, income, current transfers) totaling $719 million was mainly triggered by the deficit of the trade balance of goods, which reached $1,992 million, as well as the deficit in services balance, which amounted to $332 million. They said in their joint report that the surplus in income account (compensations of employees and investments income) amounted to $961 million. This surplus was due to compensations of the employees working in Israel, which reached $911 million with a decrease of 6% compared to the previous quarter, while the received investments income amounted to $60 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 ban
ks abroad. The current transfers achieved a surplus value amounting to $644 million. The current transfers for the government sector constituted 20% of the total transfers from abroad and the percentage of the transfers to other sectors reached 80%. The donors’ current transfers constituted 16% of total transfers from abroad. The preliminary results showed a surplus value for the capital and financial account amounting to $574 million, mainly caused by the surplus in the financial account which amounted to $492 million. There was an increase in the reserve assets at PMA amounting to $37 million, compared to an increase of $281 million in the previous quarter.
 
Source: Palestine news and Information Agency – WAFA