In the latest turn of events, the government of Palestine is considering cryptocurrency to replace the Israeli shekel. Local English media reports that the Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh has confirmed the news.
Speaking at the opening ceremony of the Palestine Center for Computer Emergency Response (PCCER) he expressed that his government will use every available way to ensure the freedom of Palestinian people and its economy.
Shtayyeh came into power with the agenda that he will transform Palestinian economy and independent of shekel despite the fact that about twenty-five billion shekels or about seven billion dollars ($7B) are in circulation within Palestine. This was also the subject of his opening remarks back in April 2019.
Why Palestine uses Israeli shekel?
Palestine has been bound to the Israeli shekel since the Paris protocol which was signed back in the April of the year 1994.
The protocol where grants the Palestinian Monetary Authority (PMA) the legal status of a bank it also binds the country to use Israeli shekel for all official transactions.
Can Palestine reject shekel?
Experts, however, believe that the shekel is embedded so deep in the Palestinian economic system that the currency cannot completely be wiped from Palestine.
Al-Monitor report explains that over one hundred and seventy thousand (170,000) Palestinians are earning their monthly salaries in Israeli new shekels which leads to about eighty-percent of the transaction volume in shekels within Palestine.
On the other hand, despite the inception of a currency, the economic dependency runs deeper than just the use of a specific currency.
