The future of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip (English)

Both Israelis, and Palestinians agree on the urgent need for stimulating economic development, and growth in the occupied territories, and, the prospects for attracting international financial assistance are good. However, forecasting the pattern of growth...  See More + Both Israelis, and Palestinians agree on the urgent need for stimulating economic development, and growth in the occupied territories, and, the prospects for attracting international financial assistance are good. However, forecasting the pattern of growth is a highly uncertain business. Some scenarios were developed, to explore the possible trajectory of the economy, but a critical factor remains: an overall policy setting. Other policies include a relaxation of supply-side constraints, including deregulation; trade arrangements allowing substantial trade expansion; strong public finance framework; major strengthening of the administrative, and policy-formulating capability of the emerging interim self-governing authority; and strengthening of the human resource base. While securing a combination of a good policy setting, with adequate international capital inflows, could set the economy on a sustained growth path, failure to tackle the policy conditions for growth, may lead to a very different outlook.  See Less -