Gaza, January 28: Taxi drivers and grocers are now forced to use packets of gum, tissues and chocolates as change as currency is running out in Gaza.
Israel has recently stopped transferring Israeli currency to Gaza in the latest attempt to strangle the tiny enclave. The Palestinian National Authority has no currency of its own prompting residents to use Israeli, Jordanian or US currency.
“I don’t have lot of change all the time so I buy packets of tissues or gum to give people their change back. In the beginning people used to laugh or refuse to take the packets but it has become the norm now,” taxi driver Mohammad Ebrahim, told Gulf News.
Exchanging the shekel, (Israeli currency) with Egyptian pounds would boost the Palestinian economy, according to Mohammad Jad Allah, who represents Gaza’s Finance Ministry. However, the Egyptian government would need to approve such a measure.
“The currency crisis in Gaza is part of our many political problems, and can only be solved when all parties are seriously involved in working together,” Jamal Nassar, a Hamas Legislative Council Member said.
Most people receive their salaries in shekels, but since Israel stopped dealing with Gaza banks a month ago, the shekel’s purchasing power has declined.
The cash situation in Gaza is a part of a crippling financial bind which is intricately connected to the general humanitarian crisis Gaza has faced since the Palestinian elections in 2006.
Most people refuse to exchange international currencies like US dollar, Jordanian dinars or euros in banks because banks will deduct five to seven per cent of the currency value. Residents prefer to exchange their money in the black market.
Most banks only let customers withdraw a maximum of $1,000 (Dh3,672.30).
The banking sector has been assailed from three directions. The first concerns liquidity and cash flow. The second has to do with the provision of credit. And the third is the increasing lack of credibility of the banking sector.
The Israeli occupation has deliberately and systematically aggravated the first problem in several ways. As the shekel is the main currency Palestinians use in their daily transactions, the occupation has frequently and intermittently stopped the supply of the shekel, each time creating a real crisis.
——–Agencies