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AND GAZA TRADE OPENS DOORS In West Bank and Gaza, persistent conflict and the lack of a local currency makes doing business even more challenging. That’s why IFC’s trade finance program with the Bank of Palestine is so critical in a territory where unemployment is nearly 30 percent. Trade finance opens doors to increased investment in financial

Bashar Al Barghouthi is in the business of helping save lives in the West Bank and Gaza, and IFC is in the business of helping firms like Intermed Palestine, where Barghouthi is general manager, grow stronger through its Global Trade Finance Program (GTFP). Intermed, founded in 1984, imports, installs, and maintains high-tech medical equipment ...

Over the last decades, West Bank and Gaza have suffered due to political and economic instability, resulting in years of inadequate infrastructure investment and poor provision of public services to the people of Palestine. The provision of standard municipal public services, especially solid waste management, was of particular concern.

That self-reliance is a long-term goal of officials in the West Bank and Gaza. Between them, the enclaves have a single, hobbled power plant. That, combined with fuel shortages and aging power lines, has led to widespread blackouts. The effect of power cuts is especially dire in Gaza, where the United Nations has warned of “disastrous ...

and Gaza have been unable to invest sufficiently in solid waste management (SWM) infrastructure or services. To address this problem, the Joint Services Council for Hebron and Bethlehem (JSC-H&B) was established to focus on providing sanitary final disposal services and raise public awareness. THE WORLD BANK GROUP’S ROLE

Bank of Palestine is working closely with IFC to meet several priority needs in the West Bank and Gaza, beginning with the offering of combined investment and advisory products. Over the past year, IFC’s Advisory Services team in MENA has been working hand-in-hand with the bank’s management to help it create a solid risk management system ...

The latest publications from IFC in the Middle East and North Africa.

Global Trade Finance Program. The Global Trade Finance Program (GTFP) extends and complements the capacity of banks to deliver trade financing by providing risk mitigation in new or challenging markets where trade lines may be constrained. Under GTFP, IFC has issued guarantees covering over 68,000 transactions to date for more than $66.5 billion.

• KYC in the West Bank and Gaza is controlled by the AML Law and the Palestine Monetary Authority Law #2 of 1997. The PA has a very effective supervision and regulatory compliance function for financial institutions and non-financial businesses and professions (DNFBPs)1 • The AML law was decreed by the president in 2007 which was developed

In West Bank and Gaza, the gender gap remains espe-cially wide. The labor force participation rate for women was just 19.4 percent in 2016, compared with 71 percent for men. Moreover, female entrepreneurs struggle to secure loans for their businesses, and work-place discrimination remains entrenched. In addition,