Car sales race ahead as Palestinian economy purrs

[King_David]

Car sales race ahead as Palestinian economy purrs
By FELICE FRIEDSON / THE MEDIA LINE
03/23/2011 22:43


Palestinian new car sales numbers reflect growing prosperity and are one of the best measures to see how the economy is faring.

RAMALLAH -- On a blustery, winter day in Ramallah, new car sales are hot.

“You can see the numbers are escalating tremendously,” says Samech Masri, a Detroit-educated civil engineer and general manager of the United Motor Trade Co., the largest car dealership in Ramallah. “It’s gone from about 1,000 cars to 20,000 cars within about 10 years and that is something to talk about.”

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The IMF says the Palestinian economy grew a whopping 9% in the first half of last year. The boom is evident wherever one drives in Ramallah, the de facto Palestinian capital and commercial center. It’s easy to get lost amid the construction sites.

“If you go into Ramallah alone and you can generalize it to other cities in the West Bank, Ramallah is a construction site as you see it. Everybody is building,” Masri says. “Everybody believes in this country. We need to look into our future, and I believe as a Palestinian that we have a bright future because all the Palestinians are very well educated and we have a vision. All we need is just some stability in the political situation and we can do a lot more than other neighboring countries.”

Car sales topped $110 million last year, about half of which went to taxes. Masri’s dealership employs about 150 people. His was the first to go on line with the manufacturer in Germany where computers run diagnostic tests on the cars.

“You can see even the car is being fixed from Germany as we are just sitting and watching,” Masri says. “I believe a mechanic is not a mechanic anymore without an engineering degree.”


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