Poverty is higher in Gaza (65 per cent) than in the West Bank (38 per cent).

Unemployment in the West Bank was around 20 per cent.

Six account for more than two thirds of total resources European Union European Investment Bank (17 per cent), World Bank (15 per cent), Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development (13 per cent), Saudi Government Saudi Development Fund (10 per cent), Italy (8 per cent) and France (7 per cent).

Unemployment in Gaza was 61 per cent and amounted to 46 per cent in the West Bank.

Requirements for bank charges were estimated at 2,000 per month ( 24,000).

Sources World Bank, World Bank Development Indicators 2005 (GDP per capita) and UNCTAD, UNCTAD Handbook of Statistics, 2004 (inward FDI).

Unemployment reached 25 per cent (34 per cent in Gaza and 23 per cent in the West Bank) in the last quarter of 2004.

The poverty rate was 36 per cent in the Gaza Strip and 10.5 per cent in the West Bank.

Settler planning zones had absorbed 41.9 per cent of land in the West Bank.

Of this figure, the World Bank covered assistance amounting to 15.6 per cent, or 42.5 million, while IDA covered 84.4 per cent, or 229.1 million.

The population density is about 223 persons per square kilometre in the populated areas and about 33 persons per square kilometre on the East Bank.

Hospitalization accounted for approximately 27 per cent of the 1998 medical care budget, with the highest per capita allocations in the West Bank and Lebanon.

In 1996 alone, closures increased over the year before by 57 per cent in the West Bank and 35 per cent in the Gaza Strip.

The largest proportion of refugees was registered in Jordan (41.4 per cent of the Agency wide total), followed by the Gaza Strip (21.8 per cent), the West Bank (15.9 per cent), Lebanon (10.5 per cent) and the Syrian Arab Republic (10.4 per cent).

The largest proportion of refugees was registered in Jordan (41.6 per cent of the Agency wide total), followed by the Gaza Strip (21.9 per cent), the West Bank (15.8 per cent), the Syrian Arab Republic (10.4 per cent) and Lebanon (10.4 per cent).

In the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, employment in production decreased from 41 per cent in 1990 to 32 per cent in 2000 (World Bank data).

Consequently, 32 per cent and 20 per cent of Gaza and West Bank households, respectively, are living in extreme poverty, unable to meet their basic needs.

The situation in the West Bank is less depressing, as the rate is only 24 per cent.

Fifteen middle income countries have reduced by 20 per cent their commercial bank debt of 213 billion.

125. According to Palestinian sources, the rate of unemployment is 46 per cent in the West Bank.

That was understandable, since 75 per cent of the population of Gaza, 34 per cent of the population of the West Bank and 31 per cent of the population of Jordan were registered refugees.

For example, in 1996, the World Bank devoted 27 per cent of its total lending in Africa to the social sector, compared to 11 per cent in 1986 and 22 per cent in 1991.

It was akin to the Grameen Bank of Bangladesh, with the difference that NABARD lent to groups while Grameen Bank lent to individuals, and its Self Help Groups had a 95 per cent on time loan repayment and 2 per cent loss.

In the past four years, the per capita income indicators for the population in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank had dropped by 40 per cent.

The report stressed that Israel still controlled 97 per cent of the West Bank and 40 per cent of the Gaza Strip. (The Jerusalem Times, 12 September)

The land under exclusive Israeli control amounts to about 72 per cent of the West Bank (area C)1 and 40 per cent of the Gaza Strip.

Approximately 41.9 per cent or 1,795,326 were registered in Jordan 22.6 per cent or 969,588 in the Gaza Strip 16.1 per cent or 690,988 in the West Bank 10 per cent or 426,919 in the Syrian Arab Republic and 9.4 per cent or 401,071 in Lebanon.

The World Bank had shown that a country could, by improving its governance indicators by one standard deviation, achieve a 400 per cent increase in per capita incomes.

The World Bank noted that 42 per cent of client countries in which the Bank is active had completed country gender assessments by the end of the fiscal year 2004.

World Bank estimates for the overall economic performance show that in 2004, Palestinian gross domestic product (GDP) was lower by 20 per cent compared to 1999 while GDP per capita was lower by 37 per cent.

Even for the employed, real wages have declined almost 15 per cent in the West Bank and 3.7 per cent in the Gaza Strip since the end of 2000.

It was estimated that 9 per cent of the West Bank was now occupied by Israeli settlements and outposts.

In the West Bank, the 25 per cent co payment rate had to be applied at all contracted hospitals.

Upon completion of the redeployment, the PA would control from 35 to 37 per cent of the West Bank.

Several States (73 per cent) reported adoption of measures to remove bank secrecy impediments to criminal investigations that was a similar proportion compared with the second reporting period (72 per cent) and the first (only 57 per cent).

Total cultivated land in the West Bank and Gaza in 2003 is 1,815,019 dunum (1,815 sq km), about 89.5 per cent of which is the West Bank PCBS www.pcbs.gov.ps agricul tab_01.aspx.

The combined value for the specialized agencies (excluding the World Bank Group and IFAD) was just over 12 per cent.

In 1990, the World Bank estimated our per capita income at 1,200, ranking Namibia as a low middle income country.

The number of Israeli settlers in the West Bank and Gaza Strip had increased by six per cent in 2004.

However, enrolment remained stable in relative terms, at 5.5 per cent of the registered refugee population in the West Bank.

The Farmers Home Administration guarantees up to 90 per cent of bank loans for land, equipment, buildings and operating expenses.

However, growth in enrolment was unevenly distributed, with rapid growth in the Gaza Strip (7.2 per cent), moderate growth in the West Bank and Lebanon (4.4 per cent and 3 per cent respectively), zero growth in the Syrian Arab Republic (0.1 per cent increase) and negative growth in Jordan (1.7 per cent decrease).

In the financial market, commercial bank average lending interest rates, though still prohibitively high, edged downwards from an average of 53.1 per cent in 2002 to 48.7 per cent in 2003.

25. The jurisdiction of the Palestinian Authority currently encompasses, in territorial terms, some 3 to 4 per cent of the West Bank and approximately 62 per cent of the Gaza Strip.

40. Frequent Israeli closures have been a major factor behind the 18 per cent drop in gross national product (GNP) in the West Bank and Gaza Strip and the 35 per cent drop in per capita GNP between 1992 and 1996.