World Bank: Gaza economy collapsing under blockade

‘War, isolation and internal division have left Gaza in crippling state’

The Palestinian economy in the Gaza Strip is collapsing under a decadelong blockade, as well as decisions by the Palestinian National Authority and US government to reduce payments to the area, the World Bank said yesterday.

The economy contracted by six per cent in the first quarter of 2018, and there are indications of further deterioration since then, the report said. Unemployment is at 70 per cent, and every second person is living in poverty. The report will be presented to the biannual meeting of the Ad Hoc Liaison committee, an international donor group for Gaza, in New York tomorrow.

“A combination of war, isolation, and internal division has left Gaza in a crippling economic state and exacerbated the human distress,” said Marina Wes, World Bank country director for the West Bank and Gaza. “The economic and social situation in Gaza has been declining for over a decade but has deteriorated exponentially in recent months and has reached a critical point.”