The Role of Productive Sectors in Economic Growth in Palestine, 1995–2020

Unpublished working paper, prepared during postgraduate study at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies. The full text is in Arabic and available as a PDF from the top of this page.

Abstract

The study examines the role of goods-producing sectors and the extent of their contribution to real GDP, and therefore to sustained rates of economic growth.

It uses descriptive method to analyse the state of these sectors, setting out the principal indicators for industry and agriculture and the role of merchandise exports, together with the constraints preventing these sectors from contributing to output. It also considers the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on both sectors and related economic projections. Econometric method was used to build two models on local data and statistics.

Findings

• Palestinian goods-producing sectors suffer marked weakness, owing to external constraints in the form of Israeli policies and measures, and internal ones tied to agricultural and industrial policy.
• The contribution of industry and agriculture to GDP has declined.
• Gains in merchandise exports did not translate into output, because they were matched by continued growth in imports — widening the merchandise trade deficit.
• The econometric results show an inverse relationship between agricultural value added and GDP — an expected result given the sector's decline under occupation policies of land confiscation, levelling and targeting.