Reuters
Jerusalem


Gaza’s economy is in a worse state than any other in the world, with unemployment at a global high, output contracting sharply and the long-term prospects worrying, the World Bank said yesterday.
Repeated rounds of conflict, internal divisions and the embargo Israel and Egypt impose have left the territory “on the verge of collapse”, the report said, with its 1.8mn population facing poverty and destitution despite vast aid.
“Blockades, war and poor governance have strangled Gaza’s economy and the unemployment rate is now the highest in the world,” said the report, drafted by Steen Lau Jorgensen, the World Bank’s director for Gaza and the West Bank.
It is to be presented in Brussels on May 27.
“Gaza’s exports virtually disappeared and the manufacturing sector has shrunk by as much as 60%. The economy cannot survive without being connected to the outside world.”
l Overall unemployment now stands at 43%, and 68% among those aged 20-24.
l Gaza’s current real GDP is only a couple of percentage points higher than it was 20 years ago. Over the same period, the population has increased by 230%.
l Last year’s war between Israel and Hamas led to a 15% contraction in GDP for the year.
l Real per capita income in Gaza is now 31% lower than it was in 1994.
l Between 1994 and 2012, Gaza’s manufacturing sector, which should be the driver of the economy, shrank by 60%.
“The status quo in Gaza is unsustainable,” Jorgensen concluded in the 40-page analysis. “The feeling of hopelessness is pervasive, in particular following the summer 2014 war.