Economic developments in the Palestinian territories

The COVID-19 crisis impacted an economy already weakened by three years of low economic growth, high unemployment, and persistent fiscal deficits, resulting in a sharp decline in economic activity in the Palestinian territories in 2020. Despite taking early necessary measures to contain the spread of the pandemic, a second wave of the epidemic returned by the beginning of July, forcing partial reintroduction of measures to restrict movement. The Palestinian economy has been in a very difficult situation in 2020 facing triple crises reinforcing each other: i) a resurgent COVID-19 outbreak, ii) a severe economic slowdown, and iii) a political standoff with the Government of Israel that disrupted clearance revenues for over six months (May-November 2020). For 2020, it is projected that the COVID-19 crisis will have a substantial negative impact on the economy and the Palestinian people.