Foreign investments in Israel fell to 1.6 billion dollars during the last three months due to the Palestinian Intifada, according to a report by the Bank of Israel, quoted by Haaretz newspaper.
The report said that in the last three years and within the same period [the fourth quarter], average of total foreign investment stood at 3.3 billion dollars.
Despite the drop in foreign investment, the bank "insisted that it was largely motivated by factors other than the recent violence between Israel and the Palestinians," said the paper.
Last year, foreign investments in Israel reached a total of 11.4 billion dollars, compared to 9 billion dollars in 1999, said the report.
The bank said in its report that "the moderate reaction of foreign investors to the geo-political events during the fourth quarter of 2000 was based on investors' faith in the stability and solidity of the Israeli economy."
The report noted, however, that the general state of the global market and Nasdaq's performance, in particular, had a greater effect than the security events.
As for the impact of the Intifada on the Palestinians, the Palestinian Authority suffered some $400 million in economic damage.
Reports said that if the current situation continued, the gross domestic production of the PA will decline by about 25 percent of its normal rate.
The rate of unemployment in the Palestinian territories soared to 45 percent. Some 120,000 of the 300,000 unemployed residents of the territories made their livelihood in Israel before the Intifada -- Albawaba.com
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
