Palestine Economy Portal
The preliminary results of the Palestinian balance of payments for the fourth quarter of 2020 showed an incessant deficit in the current account (goods, services, income, current transfers), which totaled $292 million, according to a joint Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) and Palestine Monetary Authority (PMA) report.

This deficit in the current account was mainly triggered by the deficit of the trade balance of goods, which reached $1,276 million, as well as the deficit in the services balance, which amounted to $228 million.

The surplus in income account (compensations of employees and investments income) amounted to $741 million. This surplus was due to compensations of the employees working in Israel, which reached $705 million (with an increase of 8% compared to the previous quarter).

As for the received investments income, it amounted to $58 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 amounting to $470 million with an increase of 4% compared to the previous quarter. The total transfers from abroad amounted to $556 million, of which 17% were the transfers to the government sector, while the percentage of the transfers to other sectors reached 83%. The donors’ current transfers constituted 15% of total transfers from abroad.

The preliminary results showed a surplus value for the capital and financial account amounting to $383 million caused mainly by the surplus in the financial account, which amounted to $266 million. There was an increase in the reserve assets at PMA amounting to $71 million, compared to a decrease of $74 million in the previous quarter.