The preliminary results of the Palestinian Balance of Payments (BoP) for the fourth quarter of 2022 conducted by the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) and the Palestine Monetary Authority (PMA) said that an incessant deficit in the Current Account (goods, services, income, current transfers) which totaled $905 million was mainly triggered by the deficit of the Trade Balance of Goods, which reached $2,116 million, as well as the deficit in Services Balance, which amounted to $345 million. The surplus in the Income Account (compensations of employees and investments income) amounted to $969 million. This surplus was due to compensations of the employees working in Israel, which reached $912 million despite a decrease in compensations by 14% compared to the previous quarter. As for the received investments income, it amounted to $98 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 banks abroad. The Current Transfers achieved a surplus value amounted to $587 million, where the current transfers for the government sector constituted 12% of the total transfers from abroad with a decrease of 68% compared to the previous quarter, while the percentage of the transfers to other sectors reached 88%. The donors’ current transfers constituted 8% of total transfers from abroad. The preliminary results showed a surplus value for the Capital and Financial Account amounted to $787 million, the surplus in the Capital and Financial Account was mainly caused by the surplus in Financial Account which amounted to $679 million. There was a decrease in the reserve assets at PMA amounted to $108 million, compared to an increase of $175 million in the previous quarter.
Source: Palestine News & Information Agency