Debt - external: $108 million (includes West Bank) (1997 est.)

Economic aid - recipient: $800 million pledged (includes West Bank) (1999)

Currency: 1 new Israeli shekel (NIS) = 100 new agorot

Exchange rates: new Israeli shekels (NIS) per US$1 - 4.2260 (November 1999), 3.8001 (1998), 3.4494 (1997), 3.1917 (1996), 3.0113 (1995)

Fiscal year: calendar year

@Gaza Strip:Communications

Telephones - main lines in use: 95,729 (total for Gaza Strip and West
Bank) (1997)

Telephones - mobile cellular: NA

Telephone system: domestic: rudimentary telephone services provided by an open wire system international: NA

Radio broadcast stations: AM 0, FM 0, shortwave 0 (1998)