The Palestine Monetary Authority (PMA; ) is the emerging

central bank A central bank, reserve bank, national bank, or monetary authority is an institution that manages the monetary policy of a country or monetary union. In contrast to a commercial bank, a central bank possesses a monopoly on increasing the mo ...

Palestine Palestine, officially the State of Palestine, is a country in West Asia. Recognized by International recognition of Palestine, 147 of the UN's 193 member states, it encompasses the Israeli-occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and th ...

. The PMA, located in

Ramallah Ramallah ( , ; ) is a Palestinians, Palestinian city in the central West Bank, that serves as the administrative capital of the State of Palestine. It is situated on the Judaean Mountains, north of Jerusalem, at an average elevation of abov ...

, was established in 1994 following the signing of the

Protocol on Economic Relations The Protocol on Economic Relations, also called the Paris Protocol, was an agreement between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization, signed on 29 April 1994, and incorporated with minor amendments into the Oslo II Accord of September 19 ...

(Paris Protocol) between the Palestinians and Israel. It is an independent public institution responsible for the formulation and implementation of monetary and banking policies, to safeguard the banking sector and to ensure the growth of the national economy in a balanced manner. PMA supervises the 13 Palestinian and foreign banks operating in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. It is not responsible for the issue of a Palestinian currency. PMA operates under the authority of PMA Law Number 2 of 1997, an act of the Palestine Legislative Council, and the Banking Law Number 9 of 2010. The logo of the PMA pays homage to the

Palestinian pound The Palestine pound or Palestine lira ( []; or פלסטינית לירה ; Currency symbol, symbol: £P), was the currency of the Mandatory Palestine, British Mandate of Palestine from 1 November 1927 to 14 May 1948, and of the Israel, State o ...

, minted and circulated under the British Mandate. The logo contains the name of the PMA in English and Arabic, written on the historic 5 mils coin.

Objectives

PMA aims to maintain monetary and financial stability and to promote sustainable economic growth through: * effective and transparent regulation and supervision of banks, specialized lending institutions and money changers operating in Palestine. * overseeing the implementation and operation of modern, efficient payment systems. * development and execution of monetary policy designed to achieve

price stability Price stability is a goal of monetary and fiscal policy aiming to support sustainable rates of economic activity. Policy is set to maintain a very low rate of inflation or deflation. For example, the European Central Bank (ECB) describes price s ...

. PMA is active in promoting

financial inclusion Financial inclusion is the availability and equality of opportunities to access financial services. It refers to processes by which individuals and businesses can access appropriate, affordable, and timely financial products and services—which ...

policy and is a member of the Alliance for Financial Inclusion.

Governors

The governors of the PMA have been: *

Fouad Bseiso Fouad Hamdi Shaban Bseiso is a Palestinian economist who served as the first Governor of the Palestine Monetary Authority The Palestine Monetary Authority (PMA; ) is the emerging central bank of Palestine. The PMA, located in Ramallah, was est ...

, December 1994 – November 2001 * Amin Haddad, December 2001 – February 2005 * George al-Abed, February 2005 – November 2007 *

Jihad al-Wazir Jihad al-Wazir is a Palestinian economist and public servant, who served as the governor of the Palestine Monetary Authority (PMA) from 2008 to 2016, making significant contributions to the development of the Palestinian banking system and playin ...

, January 2008 – November 2015 *

Azzam Shawwa Azzam Shawwa is a Palestinian economist who served as the governor of the Palestine Monetary Authority The Palestine Monetary Authority (PMA; ) is the emerging central bank of Palestine. The PMA, located in Ramallah, was established in 1994 fo ...

, November 2015 – January 2021 *

Feras Milhem Feras Milhem is a Palestinian economist who is currently serving as the Governor of the Palestine Monetary Authority (PMA) since January 2021. He took over as Governor after the end of Azzam Shawwa's term as Governor. References {{DEFAULTSOR ...

, January 2021 – January 2025 *

Yahya Shannar Yahya Jawdat Hafez Shunnar (born 1 September 1970) is a Palestinian politician and economist. He served as the Director General of the General Secretariat of the Council of Ministers and as a secretary for several ministerial committees from 200 ...

, January 2025 -

References

External links

*
Official PMA YouTube Page
{{Authority control

Economy of Palestine 1994 establishments in Palestine Organizations established in 1994

Objectives

Governors

See also

References

External links