Commissions Bite into the Pockets of Gazans Amid Questions About the Role of the Palestinian Monetary Authority?

SadaNews Economic Report - Since the outbreak of war in the Gaza Strip, two years ago, residents of the area have lived under the weight of successive economic crises that have driven them into the arms of financial exploitation, amidst a near-complete absence of decisive interventions from the relevant authorities, led by the Palestinian Monetary Authority, which has limited itself to monitoring without taking effective measures.

During the war, in the wake of the economic collapse left by the conflict, citizens faced a severe cash liquidity crisis, forcing them to turn to money traders and capital owners to withdraw their funds from electronic bank accounts in exchange for exorbitant commissions. These commissions began at 5% at the start of the war but quickly escalated to 50%, stabilizing in recent months between 35% and 38%, adding an extra burden on already exhausted citizens.

Exploitation did not stop at the cash withdrawal limits; it extended to goods purchased through electronic applications, where some traders imposed additional commissions on products, leading to unjustified price increases amid a lack of effective oversight.

Despite repeated pleas from citizens to the Palestinian Monetary Authority, the latter has not taken practical steps to stop this financial bleeding, contenting itself with issuing statements that barely offer reassurance, lacking actual translation into reality according to residents who spoke to SadaNews's Economic Correspondent in Gaza.

Moreover, the measures taken by the relevant authorities have often been counterproductive, as thousands of bank accounts of citizens who were forced to use them extensively were blocked, and the "Jawwal Pay" and "Pal Pay" wallets were restricted, despite residents relying on them to receive assistance from charitable and international organizations, according to statements from citizens in Gaza to SadaNews’s Economic Correspondent.

These unstudied policies have pushed traders to compel citizens to abandon old or worn-out banknotes, such as the twenty or ten shekels, and even the new fifty shekel note, creating an additional cash crisis in the local market.

Amid this troubled scene, the question remains open: Will the Palestinian Monetary Authority compensate for what it failed to do during the war after it is over? Will it be able to restore citizens' trust through practical steps that bring balance back to the market and protect them from the exploitation of money traders?

In conversations with SadaNews’s Correspondent, citizens from Gaza affirmed that the Palestinian Monetary Authority was not up to the occasion and did not take deterrent measures against "war traders", demanding real interventions on the ground after the war that do not rely merely on slogans and statements but effectively put an end to the exploitation that has become part of their economic daily lives.

An economic source from Gaza commented to SadaNews, saying: "What is happening in Gaza is not merely a liquidity crisis but a collapse of the economic protection system, as citizens have been left an easy prey to market greed amid the absence of genuine oversight from the Palestinian Monetary Authority, which is now more than ever required to take serious action rather than merely silent observation."

Others view that the Monetary Authority cannot be blamed amidst the brutal war that devastated everything in Gaza, which was greater than everyone, while also affirming the necessity for it to act now that the war has ended and its burdens have been put down.

Some Measures Missing from the Monetary Authority

Another economic expert told SadaNews: "In light of the suffocating crisis faced by the residents of Gaza, the Palestinian Monetary Authority could have intervened immediately and decisively through a series of measures that limit the excesses of money traders and protect citizens from exploitation. Among the most notable of these measures are: setting a legal ceiling for commissions on cash withdrawals from electronic accounts, ensuring that they do not exceed reasonable rates in line with the emergency economic situation.

He added: "Also, expanding the scope of electronic wallets such as 'Jawwal Pay' and 'Pal Pay', facilitating their use without restrictions, especially as citizens rely on them for receiving assistance."

He continued: "Currently, after the war has stopped, efforts should focus on identifying traders who exploited people and taking legal action against them, including closing their accounts and electronic wallets, as well as coordinating efforts to inject sufficient cash liquidity to revive the economic situation in Gaza, and most importantly, developing a real plan to reactivate the banking sector in the region and rehabilitate the banking infrastructure.

He questioned: "Will the Monetary Authority be able to manage the monetary and financial scene in the sector after the war, or will we revisit the experiences that occurred during the war in the West Bank, through issuing successive instructions that were often insufficient to resolve the crises resulting from the war, and at times even complicated the crisis and the monetary and banking scene in the West Bank?"

He pointed out the necessity of having "strict oversight over traders and money changers who impose illegal commissions, with severe penalties for violators."

Other experts warned that there may be an even more complicated situation than the West Bank in the aftermath of the Israeli aggression in 2002, with a complete collapse of the banking infrastructure, and a widespread collapse in the trust of Gazans in the system led by the Monetary Authority amid its failure to support them during the war, and its lack of genuine intervention to end the excesses of money traders and commissions during the war, as it did not even attempt to close the accounts and wallets of these violating traders, which was within the capabilities of the Monetary Authority to do regardless of the ongoing war, which would have provided a powerful deterrent to these traders and their benefiting network outside the sector.

They considered this as the first challenge concerning the Monetary Authority's ability to work genuinely on the ground away from statements and media declarations.

These sources questioned: How will the Monetary Authority convince the banks operating in the sector of the feasibility of returning investment in the region, after all the operational and financial losses and credit allocations, the complete loss of banking infrastructure including branches and ATMs, and the near-total lack of the necessary security to ensure the operations of these banks, as well as the absence of a clear mechanism for coordinating their efforts to move cash in and out of the sector according to the requirements of banking operations? Will the Monetary Authority also stand by and watch as banks face these challenges alone, as is currently the case in the West Bank? Or will it only use its legal authority to force banks without considering the financial, economic, and operational risks that banks consider when assessing the restart according to sound banking standards?