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View all search resultsShekel surplus weighs down Palestinian economy
Paper shekels are building up because it has no way to return the hard currency to Israel
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alestinian businesses flush with too much Israeli cash: It may not be the most talked about aspect of the occupation, but experts warn it is a growing concern for the Palestinian economy.
Palestinians in the West Bank use the Israeli shekel but, beyond that commonality, the two financial systems are dramatically different.
In Israel, as in many advanced economies, digital payments are rapidly growing, taking the place of transactions once done with bills and coins.
But in the West Bank, a territory under Israeli military occupation since 1967, cash is still king.
Tasir Freij, who owns a hardware store in Ramallah, told AFP he now has to pay a two percent commission to deposit paper money because his bank is reluctant to receive it.
"This is a crisis [...] and we are feeling its effects," Freij told AFP.
Much of the paper money is brought in by the tens of thousands of Palestinians who work inside Israel or Jewish settlements in the West Bank, and who get their wages in cash.
