A new UN report paints a stark picture of the devastation of the collapse of the Palestinian economy after a month of war and Israel’s near total siege of Gaza.
The gross domestic product shrank 4% in the West Bank and Gaza in the war’s first month, sending over 400,000 people into poverty — an economic impact unseen in the conflicts Syria and Ukraine, or any previous Israel-Hamas war, the UN said.
Gaza’s Hamas rulers launched a surprise attack on Israel on Oct. 7 killing over 1,400 people, mainly civilians, and kidnapping about 240 others.
More than two-thirds of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million have fled their homes since Israel launched weeks of intense airstrikes followed by an ongoing ground operation, vowing to obliterate Hamas. The Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza said Thursday that 10,818 Palestinians, including more than 4,400 children, have been killed so far.
The rapid assessment of economic consequences of the Gaza war released Thursday by the UN Development Program and the UN Economic and Social Commission for West Asia was the first UN report showing the devastating impact of the conflict especially on the Palestinians.
If the war continues for a second month, the UN projects that the Palestinian GDP, which was US$20.4 billion before the war began, will drop by 8.4% — a loss of US$1.7 billion. And if the conflict lasts a third month, Palestinian GDP will drop by 12%, with losses of US$2.5 billion and more than 660,000 people pushed into poverty, it projects.
UN Development Program Assistant Secretary-General Abdallah Al Dardari told a news conference launching the report that a 12% GDP loss at the end of the year would be “massive and unprecedented.” By comparison, he said, the Syrian economy used to lose 1% of its GDP per month at the height of its conflict, and it took Ukraine a year and a half of fighting to lose 30% of its GDP, an average of about 1.6% a month.
At the beginning of 2023, the Palestinian territories — the West Bank and Gaza — were considered a lower middle-income economy with a poverty level of US$6 per day per person, Economic Commission Executive Secretary Rola Dashti said.
In January, Gaza was already grappling with high unemployment of about 46%, three-and-a-half times higher than the West Bank’s 13%, the report said.
But just weeks of war has destroyed hundreds of thousands of jobs.
“As the war hits the one-month mark, 61% of employment in Gaza, equivalent to 182,000 jobs, is estimated to have been lost,” it said. “Around 24% of employment in the West Bank has also been lost, equivalent to 208,000 jobs.”
Al Dardari pointed to massive disruption to the economy in the West Bank, which is responsible for 82% of Palestinian GDP, explaining that this is supposed to be the season for olive and citrus farmers to collect their products but they can’t because of the war. And “the tourism season is practically gone — and agriculture and tourism represent 40% of the GDP in the West Bank,” he said.
In addition, Al Dardari said, there are major disruptions to trade, to the transfer of money from Israel to the Palestinian Authority which controls the West Bank, and no investment.
The Economic Commission’s Dashti said “the level of destruction is unimaginable and unprecedented” in Gaza.
“As of November 3, it is estimated that 35,000 housing units have been totally demolished and about 220,000 units are partially damaged,” she said. The report said at least 45% of Gaza’s housing units have been destroyed or damaged.
If this persists, the majority of Gazans will have no homes and Al Dardari said even if fighting ended now there will be massive long-term displacement, “with all its humanitarian economic development and security consequences.”
Al Dardari said it breaks his heart that the Palestinian territories had become lower middle income economies, “because all of that growth and development is going to regress between 11, 16, or even 19 years if the fighting continues. … We will go back to 2002.”
TORONTO – Canada’s main stock index was up more than 200 points in late-morning trading, while U.S. stock markets were also headed higher.
The S&P/TSX composite index was up 205.86 points at 24,508.12.
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 336.62 points at 42,790.74. The S&P 500 index was up 34.19 points at 5,814.24, while the Nasdaq composite was up 60.27 points at 18.342.32.
The Canadian dollar traded for 72.61 cents US compared with 72.71 cents US on Thursday.
The November crude oil contract was down 15 cents at US$75.70 per barrel and the November natural gas contract was down two cents at US$2.65 per mmBTU.
The December gold contract was down US$29.60 at US$2,668.90 an ounce and the December copper contract was up four cents at US$4.47 a pound.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 11, 2024.
OTTAWA – The economy added 47,000 jobs in September, while the unemployment rate declined for the first time since January to 6.5 per cent, Statistics Canada reported on Friday.
The agency says youth and women aged 25 to 54 drove employment gains last month, while full-time employment saw its largest gain since May 2022.
The overall job gains followed four consecutive months of little change, the agency said.
The unemployment rate has been steadily climbing over the past year and a half, hitting 6.6 per cent in August.
Inflation that month was two per cent, the lowest level in more than three years as lower gas prices helped it hit the Bank of Canada’s inflation target.
The central bank has cut its key interest rate three times this year, and is widely expected to keep cutting as inflation has subsided and the broader trend points to a weakening in the labour market.
Despite the job gains in September, the employment rate was lower in the month, reflecting continued growth in Canada’s population.
Statistics Canada said since the employment rate saw its most recent peak at 62.4 per cent in January and February 2023, it’s been following a downward trend as population growth has outpaced employment growth.
On a year-over-year basis, employment was up by 1.5 per cent in September, while the population aged 15 and older in the Labour Force Survey grew 3.6 per cent.
The information, culture and recreation industry saw employment rise 2.6 per cent between August and September, after seven months of little change, Statistics Canada said, with the increase concentrated in Quebec.
The wholesale and retail trade industry saw its first increase since January at 0.8 per cent, while employment in professional, scientific and technical services was up 1.1 per cent.
Average hourly wages among employees rose 4.6 per cent year-over-year to $35.59, a slowdown from the five-per-cent increase in August.
The unemployment rate among Black and South Asian Canadians between 25 and 54 rose year-over-year in September and was significantly higher than the unemployment rate for people who were not racialized and not Indigenous.
Black Canadians in that age group saw their unemployment rate rise to 11 per cent last month while for South Asian Canadians it was 7.3 per cent. For non-racialized, non-Indigenous people, it rose to 4.4 per cent.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 11, 2024.
TORONTO – Canada’s main stock index was little changed in late-morning trading as the financial sector fell, but energy and base metal stocks moved higher.
The S&P/TSX composite index was up 0.05 of a point at 24,224.95.
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 94.31 points at 42,417.69. The S&P 500 index was down 10.91 points at 5,781.13, while the Nasdaq composite was down 29.59 points at 18,262.03.
The Canadian dollar traded for 72.71 cents US compared with 73.05 cents US on Wednesday.
The November crude oil contract was up US$1.69 at US$74.93 per barrel and the November natural gas contract was up a penny at US$2.67 per mmBTU.
The December gold contract was up US$14.70 at US$2,640.70 an ounce and the December copper contract was up two cents at US$4.42 a pound.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 10, 2024.
