adds a fixed profit margin. The global price, less the subsidy, plus the retailer’s profit margin determines the final price consumers pay at the pump (Prime Minister’s Office, 2017).

# **2.5 In-kind benefits**

## **Health**

**The Ministry of Health (MoH) is responsible for provision of health services in the West Bank and Gaza.** The Palestinian health system consists of four main sectors including: (i) the government health sector (the Palestinian Ministry of Health and Military Medical Services), (ii) the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), (iii) NGOs, and (iv) the private sector. Primary healthcare provision is shared across the different sectors, while the provision of secondary and tertiary healthcare is led by the government health sector. From the supply side, the government health sector provides about 63 percent of the primary healthcare facilities, while in Gaza most residents tend to access UNRWA health facilities.<sup>29</sup>

**Health care services are provided to citizens at three levels: primary, secondary, and tertiary.** Primary health care is provided by centers classified into four categories based on the combination of preventive and curative services offered, in addition to mobile clinics (Ministry of Health, 2017).

**All residents of Gaza enjoy free health insurance under article (2) of the presidential decree issued on 26/6/2007, while health insurance in the West Bank is for participating families only, although contributions are mainly symbolic.** Health insurance available in the West Bank includes a compulsory health insurance scheme for public sector employees, municipalities, and retirees, as well as other types of health insurance including voluntary insurance, insurance for workers within the Green Line,<sup>30</sup> group insurance, social affairs insurance, and prisoners’ insurance.

## **Education**

**The Ministry of Education and Higher Education (MoEHE) manages public schools, including regulatory overview of private schools.** This includes pre-school, primary (or basic) and secondary school (grades 1 through 12), technical and vocational, non-formal, and higher education. The MoEHE is the official body responsible for running, organizing, and developing the educational sector either through direct management or supervision. It also spearheads the national education strategic planning process. The Schools’ Census 2016-17 showed that there were about 2,963 schools in the Palestinian Territories, 73 percent of them administered by the government, and about 1,229,756 students were enrolled, about 65 percent of them in government schools.

# **2.6 International comparison**

**Tax revenue in the West Bank and Gaza as a share of GDP is high at about 20.7 percent.** This compares to an average of 18.1 percent for all countries included in the CEQ Institute’s data center. It is also high compared to the average of lower middle-income countries of about 17.9 percent of GDP (indicated by the dashed orange line in Figure 2-1).

> 29 While UNRWA’s mandate is to provide services to refuges, its health services are mainly focused on primary health care, and it purchases secondary/tertiary services for a limited number of cases.

> 30 Workers within the Green line refers to individuals working in Israel. The Green Line is the demarcation line set out in the 1949 Armistice Agreements between the armies of Israel and those of its neighbors (Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon and the Syrian Arab Republic) after the 1948 War.

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