“Gaza’s economy has been suffering from Israeli blockade for 14 consecutive years,” Director of Media and Public Relations of Gaza’s chamber of commerce and industry reported.

Maher Al-Tabbaa stated that the Israeli aggressions over Gaza deepened the economic crisis resulted from the immense damage left in infrastructure and other economic sections.

“Tardiness in rebuilding the Gaza city, particularly the economic sections, and lack of composition for the affected companies led to serious repercussions on the economic conditions,” he added. Several international institutions warned of delaying rebuilding the economic, social, health and environmental aspects of Gaza.

Palestine’s economy recorded a severe economic downturn that reached 12% during 2020. Hence, most economic activities witnessed a sharp decline in the value added and the GDP per capita.

It also witnessed that the number of unemployed is growing to intervene the circle of poverty, in which 45,000 workers lost their day-to-day work.

Unemployment rates reached 49% in the third quarter of 2020, while extreme poverty reached 33.8%, according to PCBS.  

The disastrous economic conditions in Gaza; illiquidity and lack of buying power, led to an increase in the in number of cheques returned.

2020 recorded an ongoing increase in the number of cheques returned, which confirms the deterioration of the economy in Gaza. (Number of cheques returned is about 15849 cheques, totaling 57 million dollars during the first, second and third quarter)