Ramallah: The Palestinian Ministry of Finance announced on Tuesday that the occupied West Bank consumes cigarettes worth two billion Shekels ($580 million, Dh2.13 billion) annually and that 83 per cent of this total (1.67 billion Shekels) goes to the Palestinian treasury as taxes.
In his statement, Shukri Bisharah, Minister of Finance, complained in about the negative effect the increasing trade in smuggled cigarettes has had on the Palestinian National Authority’s (PNA) finances, claiming that smuggling has reduced the amount of Palestinian tax from cigarettes by more than half a billion Shekels.
Israel transfers $100 million to the treasury of the PNA monthly from the tax revenues Israel collects on behalf of the PNA as per the Oslo Accords and the Paris Economic Agreement.
A senior official at the finance ministry told Gulf News that the Customs Department said a major campaign to seize smuggled cigarettes and tobacco from West Bank based shops and outlets was underway.
The official stressed that the smuggled cigarettes come from Israeli colonies and this was affecting the Palestinian economy.
The main source of the Arabian tobacco is Yaabad of Jenin and the entire governorate of Jenin.
Abu Mahmoud, a smoker, told Gulf News that the PNA treats smoking of contraband tobacco a treason.
“We hope we can do this but we cannot afford it,” he said, adding that a locally made legal Palestinian pack of cigarettes costs 20 Shekels.
But “a pack of Arabian tobacco costs five Shekels, which I can afford,” he said, adding that he travels from Nablus to Jenin to buy his tobacco needs for an entire year.
