The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is boosting Palestinian export and import activity by providing an additional US$ 3 million to its existing trade finance line with Quds Bank. This brings the total available to US$ 15 million. The trade line increase comes at a crucial time for Palestinian businesses, particularly since the war in Gaza, which started in October 2023, is heavily impacting the Palestinian economy.

Quds Bank has been an EBRD client since 2019 and is one of the most active banks in the region in terms of using the EBRD’s trade finance lines. It uses the EBRD’s Trade Facilitation Programme (TFP) to support its import and export transactions, and expand its correspondent banking services and international trade finance product range, thereby preserving the availability of trade finance in the West Bank, which is critical.

During the EBRD’s Annual Meeting in Armenia in May 2024, Quds Bank won for the third time the EBRD’s TFP award for “Most Active Issuing Bank in the West Bank and Gaza”. This underscores the vital role that Quds Bank plays in supporting trade in the Palestinian market. Quds Bank is the third-largest commercial bank in the West Bank and Gaza and has been listed on the Palestine Exchange since 1997. It joined the TFP in 2019 with an initial approved limit of US$ 2 million, which was subsequently increased to US$ 7 million in 2020, US$ 12 million in 2022 and US$ 15 million in 2024.

Since joining the TFP, Quds Bank has gained access to a community of more than 100 issuing banks and 800 confirming banks worldwide, expanding its correspondent banking network and international business opportunities. Quds Bank employees have also benefited from TFP workshops and training courses on trade finance developments and best practices.

The EBRD TFP was launched in 1999 to promote international trade among the economies in the Bank’s regions, in the form of guarantees and short-term loans to selected participating banks and factoring companies for on-lending to local exporters, importers and distributors. Since the start of its operations in the West Bank and Gaza in 2017, the EBRD has signed 25 projects worth a total of €122 million.