Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa chaired the 25th meeting of the Advisory Council for Official Statistics, today, Monday, at the headquarters of the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics in the city of Ramallah.

The Prime Minister reviewed the government's efforts towards the Gaza Strip, the financial and economic situation, and the national development program.

Mustafa stressed that the Gaza Strip will remain an integral part of the Palestinian state and national project, pointing to the political and diplomatic efforts made by President Mahmoud Abbas and the Palestinian leadership to stop the war of extermination against our people, and the priority of relief efforts in the Gaza Strip from the first day of the aggression, and opening all the crossings of the Strip to bring in more aid to meet emergency needs.

The Prime Minister referred to the efforts being made to prepare for the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip immediately after the aggression stops, as the National Reconstruction Team has been formed, and preparations are underway to establish a reconstruction authority through a local and international alliance.

Mustafa stressed that the financial siege is part of Israel's plan to eliminate the Palestinian national project and destroy the foundations of an independent state, as Israel continues to deduct monthly from Palestinian tax revenues under the pretext of paying the allocations for the Gaza Strip, martyrs and detainees, and that the ongoing Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including Jerusalem, has affected the national economy by shrinking by 35%.

The Prime Minister briefed the members of the Advisory Council on the government’s preparation of a draft of the first phase of the “National Development and Improvement Program”, to be implemented over the next two years. The program includes two main parts: the first part of the program consists of seven development initiatives, including: renewable energy, localizing health services, digital transformation, social protection, developing local government bodies, food security, and education for development. The second part of the program includes four main axes: reviewing the development of financial policies and developing public finance management, strengthening the governance system and the rule of law, improving the legislative and regulatory environment for investment and business, and improving the performance of institutions providing public services, including water, electricity, health, education, and communications.

Mustafa welcomed the new members of the Advisory Council, thanking the Council members whose membership had ended, either through retirement or replacement by new representatives from their institutions.

The Prime Minister expressed his thanks and appreciation to the staff of the Central Bureau of Statistics, its head, Ola Awad, and the members of the Advisory Council, as an effective national institution, and for their distinguished efforts and giving, especially during the ongoing aggression against our people in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including Jerusalem, and for providing statistical data and indicators that reflect the demographic, environmental, economic and social reality, and monitoring the impact of the aggression in various sectors.

For her part, Awad reviewed the most important achievements of the apparatus and its work at the local and international levels during the past year in light of the continued aggression of the occupation against our people, as the apparatus established a special platform on the losses resulting from the aggression that includes indicators related to the numbers of martyrs, wounded, detainees, buildings, residential units, and others, and it is updated on a daily basis.

Awad added that the Palestine Data Strategy has been updated to cover the period from 2024-2029, in line with government plans, and a training program on data science has been completed in which 184 trainees representing various sectors participated. The agency, in partnership with the Ministry of Local Government, continues to implement the project to develop establishment databases in major municipalities, and to implement the census in the remaining communities to contribute to updating these databases periodically and continuously.

Awad pointed out that the State of Palestine, represented by the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, has obtained first place in the Middle East and North Africa region, and 48th place globally in the Statistical Performance Index (SPI), within the World Bank’s assessment of national statistical systems.

The Advisory Council discussed many issues, the most important of which were the statistical program during and after the aggression on the Gaza Strip, amending the General Statistics Law No. (4) of 2000, in addition to the Council’s budget for the years 2024 and 2025.