A survey of Palestine’s economic development, contained in the seventh annual report of the Palestine Economic Corporation as made public yesterday by Bernard Flexner, chairman of the board of the corporation, indicates rapid economic progress in most of the statistics for the past year.
The report points out, however, that economic expansion has “brought in its wake certain undesirable speculative elements.” Property values in certain sections have shot up, and credit expansion has to some extent been encouraged. The agricultural colonies have been affected seriously by the four-year drought.
The black ink side of the ledger, nevertheless, shows cause for jubilation among Zionists. The report points out that government finances are “in an enviable state,” with a surplus in the Palestine treasury of £2,144,419. Deposits in banks and cooperative societies are estimated at from ten to eleven million pounds at the end of 1933 and are steadily increasing. Moreover 29,101 immigrants entered the country during the year, 27,862 of whom were Jews, according to the report. About one-tenth of these belonged to the so called capitalist class, bringing with them more than two and a half million pounds.
Figures for imports and exports, said the report, reveal a marked increase in business activity in the Holy Land.
“Imports for consumption show a fifty per cent increase over 1932.” the report states, “and exports of Palestine produce increased by almost ten per cent in spite of the difficulties encountered in fluctuating foreign currencies and international trade barriers.”
Although the adverse balance of trade is almost double that of 1932, this is counterbalanced by invisible imports consisting of capital brought into the country by immigrants, investors and tourists. The principal imports in 1933 were manufactured articles and the principal exports were food, drink and tobacco.
BUILDING AND CROPS GAIN
The report called attention also to the increase in building activities, especially in the Tel Aviv and Haifa, and to the marked increase in the 1934 citrus crop estimates in spite of the inclement weather.
the Palestine Economic Corporation made a profit of $129,284,34 for the year ending December 31, 1933. Subsidiaries of the corporation include the Central Bank of Cooperative Institutions in Palestine, Inc,; the Palestine Mortgage and Credit Bank Limited, which completed the construction of 284 farm buildings in agricultural settlements; the Loan Bank Limited; the Bayside Land Corporation Limited; the Palestine Water Company Limited; Palestine Potash Limited; and Palestine Hotels Limited, owner of the King David Hotel in Jerusalem.
Felix M. Warburg is honorary president of the corporation. Other officers are Julius Simon, president, Benjamin V. Cohen, Herbet H. Lehman, Robert Szold, Walter E. Meyer, Lawrence H. Marks and Moses A. Levitt.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
