Ramallah - Palestine Economy Portal.

The World Bank announced that it is preparing an emergency operation to help the Palestinian government cope with the economic and social repercussions of the Corona pandemic.

"The World Bank team is working in full swing to prepare an emergency operation that includes providing social assistance, short-term job opportunities for the poorest in the most caring categories, and supporting the private sector," Kantan Shankar, director of the bank's mission in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, said in a recorded video on Wednesday

He added that the bank is also restructuring other existing projects to help municipalities continue to provide vital services.

Shankar noted that "The World Bank Group does not work alone in Palestine, we are working closely with our development partners."

He praised the performance of the Palestinian government in confronting the pandemic, and said that it had acted with the beginning of the virus outbreak, early and decisively.

He pointed out that "the economic tools available to the Palestinian National Authority are very limited, as they cannot obtain international loans."

And the World Bank expected, in a report issued on the second of June, the contraction of the Palestinian economy between 7.6 and 11% in 2020 due to the pandemic.

He said that the Palestinian Monetary Authority and the Ministry of Finance "have taken important measures to support the private sector, but there are high risks that many private sector jobs will go irreversibly."

Regarding public finances, Shankar said that the financing gap "has widened to an appalling level, from about $ 600 million in 2019 to twice that in 2020, and the main reason for this is due to the increase in medical and social expenses."

He pointed out that the World Bank "moved immediately after the authority declared a state of emergency in early March, and within weeks we restructured our existing project to provide urgent financial support to purchase personal protection supplies and equipment, equip health centers, and assign medical teams to temporary jobs, in addition to a project Emergency health at a cost of $ 5 million to support the Ministry of Health. "