| COUNTRY PERSPECTIVES
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PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY |
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Finance & banking system |
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Finance & banking system |
The Palestinian monetary authority LDC monitors banking operations and conformity to prudential practices. Certain banks have been rated AA by the Thompson rating agency.
Banks in Palestine are equipped with the most modern technologies to serve their customers, in particular:
- Data processing systems;
- Automatic teller machines (ATM) throughout the territory;
- Banking operations by telephone;
- Banking operations online via internet.
In the absence of a Palestinian national currency, banks operate primarily with the Israeli shekel, the Jordanian Dinar and the US dollar.
The Palestinian stock exchange - the Palestine Securities Exchange (PSE) - began trading in February 1997. The PSE is a member of the federation of Euro-Asian Stock Markets, of the Arab Federation of Stock Markets, and of the Arab Monetary Fund as well as the international federation of stock markets.
The Capital Market Authority (CMA) has been in charge of supervising the PSE since August 2005. Currently, 28 companies are listed on the stock market and 40 others will be posted shortly. These companies work in various sectors, from pharmaceutical production to telecommunications, banks and insurance or tourism. The Alquds index (base 100 in 1997) is based on average market capitalisation of the 10 largest listed companies. Starting at 139.13 points in 1997, it reached 1128.59 points in 2005 (306.61 percent growth) and market capitalisation came to US$ 4,456 billion in 2005 (+306.39 percent). |
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