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West Bank poor may double over pandemic: World Bank
JERUSALEM, June 1, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – Poverty in the occupied West Bank may
double as Palestinians are slammed by the economic fallout of the coronavirus
pandemic, the World Bank warned on Monday.
The Palestinian territories have seen low infection rates after acting
quickly to curtail the spread of COVID-19, with three deaths out of 450 cases
registered among some five million residents in Gaza and the West Bank.
But the Palestinian Authority’s financial situation is “expected to become
increasingly difficult” due to loss of income and increased spending on
healthcare and other areas, the World Bank said in a report.
The fallout is expected to see the number of households living below the
poverty line increase this year from 14 to 30 percent in the West Bank,
largely due to Palestinians being unable to cross into Israel for work.
The PA last week announced an end to the lockdown it had imposed in early
March across the West Bank after an outbreak of the Covid-19 illness in the
biblical city of Bethlehem.
The easing allowed more than 63,000 Palestinians to pass through
checkpoints for work on Sunday, according to the Israeli military branch
handling civilian affairs in the occupied Palestinian territories.
The borders of the Hamas-run Gaza Strip, which has been under a crippling
Israeli blockade since 2007, remain closed to all but a few returning Gazans,
who are quarantined on arrival.
The poverty rate was already 53 percent in Gaza before the pandemic and the
World Bank forecast it would jump to 64 percent this year.
Overall, the Palestinian economy is set to shrink between 7.6 and 11
percent, the global body said, a severe downturn after one percent growth in
2019.
Despite the PA taking steps to manage the economic blow brought by
coronavirus, the World Bank said its financial gap “could increase alarmingly”
from $800 million last year to $1.5 billion this year.
“At this point, it is not possible to say how long it will take for the
economy to recover from the current containment measures,” the bank said.
The report recommended investing in mobile networks to boost the economy.
Palestinians rely on 2G and 3G mobile data networks in Gaza and the West
Bank respectively, while some countries are already adopting 5G.
BSS/AFP/MMA/0945HRS