The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is boosting Palestinian export and import activities by providing a US$2m trade finance line to the Arab Islamic Bank (AIB).
The trade finance line, given under the EBRD’s Trade Facilitation Programme (TFP), will be used to issue guarantees in favour of confirming banks for pre-export and post-import financing, and help private businesses there with their trade finance activities.
This limit comes at a crucial time for the West Bank and Gaza, as the war in Gaza which started in October 2023 is impacting the economy of the West Bank. Recent estimates indicate that the local economy contracted by at least 6.4 per cent at the end of 2023 due to employment losses and rising security tensions, which affected mobility and business activity.
