The IMF is preparing a report on the Palestinian economy that praises the actions of the West Bank government and the large donations of Western, especially European, countries, but argues that healthy recent growth rates are imperiled by the parties that claim to have the most at stake — Israel and the Arab states. “There is a very high risk that the growth of the last year will not last,” Oussama Kanaan, head of the fund’s mission to the Palestinian territories, said in an interview ahead of a meeting in Madrid next week of donor countries where he will present the report. “There has been no additional significant easing of restrictions by Israel so far in 2010. And there is a lack of donor support, especially among the Arabs, who need to give in a more systematic and predictable way to build investor confidence.” Following the violent uprising of late 2000 and fierce Israeli countermeasures, an economic crisis began that lasted until 2007 when mild growth began. For 2009, Kanaan said, the economic growth rate for the West Bank and Gaza was the highest in years, 6.8 percent, of which 8.5 percent was in the West Bank and 1 percent in Gaza. He attributed the growth for the West Bank to improved security. (New York Times)
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