Trade between Jordan and the Palestinians was down more than 25 percent in the first half of the year due to the Israeli blockade around the West Bank, the press reported Friday, August 17.
"Trade in the first half was 11.7 million dinars ($16.3 million) as opposed to 15.7 million dinars ($21.9 million) over the same period last year," industries official Usman Bdair said, cited by Al-Arab Al-Yum. He attributed the sharp fall-off to the blockade, which the Palestinians say is costing their economy millions of dollars daily.
But Bdair added that the trade between the two sides has anyway been "modest in the past few years and never topped one percent of Palestinian-Israeli trade." Jordan exports primarily cement to the Palestinian territories and imports mostly fruits and agricultural products. ― (AFP, Amman)
© Agence France Presse 2001
© 2001 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
