Q Monitor No.41, August 2015
There is always a time lag between publishing an issue of the Quarterly Economic and Social Monitor and the period that it covers. The present issue – which is released in August with a slight delay – covers economic developments and indicators for the quarter that ended in March 2015. We hope that the readers will find in this issue information and data that are helpful in understanding the realities of the Palestinian economic situation during that specific period. This issue of the Monitor features six text boxes, which is fewer than in previous issues, but it was never the intention to have a specified number of boxes as this depends on what is new and topical and has significant implication for the Palestinian economy. The box on the net general budget expenditure in the Gaza Strip is particularly interesting as it presents information made available for the first time on an issue that has occasionally stirred debate with political nuances unrelated to the socio-economic context. Needless to say, under normal and healthy conditions, revenues are allocated to different expenditure items not according to region or source of revenue, but rather depending on allocation policies informed by a national spending plan inspired by the principles of achieving equality and effectiveness. This is a point that we found important to stress in relation to this analytical text box.