ﺯﻱ ﻟﻺﺤﺼﺎﺀ ïºï»Ÿï»”ï» ïº´ï»ï»´ï»¨ï»² ïºï»Ÿïº ï»¬ïºŽïº¯ ﺍﻟﻤﺭﻜ - Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics

Chapter OneIntroductionThe Foreign Trade Statistics with its three major indicators (imports, exports and tradebalance) are considered vital requirements for the National Accounts and Balance ofPayments. For these reasons, PCBS puts heavy emphasis on constructing a sound database forForeign Trade Statistics in Palestine, and publishes a yearly report on the goods and servicesflowing to and from Palestine.PCBS uses international recommendations in the compilation of Foreign Trade Statistics toensure relevancy and comparability of its statistics to better serve all segments of usersincluding international and civil society institutions as well as researchers and scholars.1.1 Aims of the reportThe report aims to provide statistics on:• Imported and exported commodities distributed according to the country of origin anddestination.• The countries with which Palestine has commercial relations.• Flow of goods according to the economic purposes.• Flow of goods according to the means of entry and exit.• Flow of goods according to the entry passages and borders.• Flow of services according to the kind of service.The mentioned statistics contribute to the calculation of relevant indicators including::• The general net trade balance with patrner countries.• The per capita imports and exports.• The commercial trade in services with Israel.These indicators are necessary to serve:• The preparation of national accounts, balance of payments, and other statistical programs.• Research and economic analysis.• Decision-makers and planners.• Iinternational databases such as: UN, Arab Legue, ESCWA and others.1.2 Report StructureThis report is divided into the following chapters:Chapter One: Includes the introduction and aims of foreign trade statistics, and the reportstructure.Chapter Two: Deals with basic concepts and definitions, measurement units andabbreviations included in the report.Chapter Three: Presents the main results of the reportChapter Four: Deals with the methodology in respect to data collection and coverage. It alsodeals with fieldwork activities for data collection, the methods of data processing andtabulation.Chapter Five: Deals with data quality including statistical and non statistical errors.Tables: The report includes 13 tables on the main indicators of Palestinian trade on goods andservices.[19]