Economic activity
Real GDP in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt) in Q4/2015 was 1.5% higher than in Q3/2015, driven by a 9.7% growth in Gaza, countered by a 1% contraction in the West Bank. Year-on-year growth rate accelerated in the West Bank where the economy expanded by 4.7% as compared with 4.0% in the previous quarter. In the Gaza Strip too, year on year GDP growth accelerated to 50.1% as compared with 33.3% in the previous quarter. In Q4/2015 the Gaza economy constituted 25% of the overall Palestinian economy, and the Strip’s GDP per capita was about half of the West Bank’s.
In the West Bank, between Q3/2014 and Q4/2015 there was significant expansion in real value added in financial and insurance activities (10.0%), the transportation and storage sector (8.7%). Contraction in real GDP was driven by significant contractions in agriculture forestry and fishing (-23.9%), mining, manufacturing, electricity and water (-5.0%), and public administration and defense (-2.8).
During the same period in the Gaza Strip, growth rate of the construction sector (355.6%) far outstripped others. Significant growth was recorded in wholesale and retail trade, repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles (25.6%), mining, manufacturing, electricity and water (18.1%), services (12.8%), and financial and insurance activities (11.2%) as well. Agriculture, forestry and fishing recorded a 10.7% contraction.
The services sector was the largest one in the West Bank economy in Q4/2015, accounting for 18.5% of GDP. This was followed by the wholesale and retail trade sector (17.5%) and mining, manufacturing, electricity and water (15.0%).
Public administration and defence continued to account for the largest proportion of the Gaza Strip’s GDP in Q4/2015, accounting for 28.5% of the total, followed by services (23.3%), construction (15.5%), wholesale and retail trade (15.3%), and mining, manufacturing, electricity and water (15.0%).