The Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics announced today, Tuesday, that the losses of the Palestinian economy for the current year amounted to more than 2.5 billion US dollars, compared to 2019 due to the repercussions left by the Corona virus pandemic.
In a report on the most prominent statistical indicators in Palestine for the year 2020, the census stated that the per capita gross domestic product decreased by 15.6 percent, compared to last year, to reach $ 2,840.3.
The number of building licenses decreased by 45 percent during the second quarter of 2020, and the number of new building licenses decreased by 48 percent during the same period, a 40 percent decrease compared to the corresponding quarter of 2019.
The first quarter of this year witnessed a decrease in the quantities of industrial production index by 6.17 percent, and the decline continued during the second quarter, reaching more than 2.52 percent.
The consumer price index in Palestine witnessed a decline in price levels during the first three quarters of 2020, and the peak of this decline was during the second quarter, by 1.18 percent, compared to the first quarter of the year.
Price levels in the second and third quarters also witnessed a decline compared to the corresponding two quarters of 2019. By 1.51 percent and 2.03 percent, respectively.
Preliminary estimates indicated that inbound tourism spending to Palestine decreased by 68 percent, compared to 2019, to reach $ 466 million, and the losses of the inbound tourism sector to Palestine are estimated at about $ 1.021 billion for 2020.
The data showed that more than a quarter of the participants in the labor force were unemployed in the second quarter of this year.
According to the data, the unemployment rate in the second quarter of 2020 was 27 percent, 49 percent in the Gaza Strip and 15 percent in the West Bank.
It added that 52 percent of the main wage earners were not paid during the closure period, 23 percent of them received their wages as usual, while 25 percent were partially waged.
