Nidal Sabri - Academia.edu (original) (raw)
Papers by Nidal Sabri
SSRN Electronic Journal, 1995
Professor Sabri is a known financial analyst, who served as a consultant on several missions with... more Professor Sabri is a known financial analyst, who served as a consultant on several missions with the UN firms including; the UN Industrial Development Organization, the United Nations Center for Human Settlements and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development. In addition, he participated in Academic conferences with working papers including The Economic Research Forum at Rabat, The European Financial Management Meeting, The Arab Management Conference at Bradford.
This paper aims to investigate the role of housing as an internal leading sector in the Palestini... more This paper aims to investigate the role of housing as an internal leading sector in the Palestinian economy. In order to indicate to what extend investment in the housing sector may generate employment. In addition this paper aims to point out how growth in housing construction affects the related industries. The study examined the latest official statistics as well as used a special instrument to analyze the input ratios of a sample of completed public and private housing projects. The study is based on the assumption that the Palestinian housing sector will accomplish a growth rate of 5% annually in the medium term. The Palestinian housing sector includes 336,100 units. Of this total about 56% of the housing units are single houses built from concrete, while 25% are single houses built from stone. The multi-building units built from cement form 13% of the total housing units, while stone multi-building units form 6% of the total Palestinian housing units. The study indicated that the average weighted ratios for housing construction inputs include 24.51% for Labour cost, 51% for the materials, and 24.6% for other cost items. The materials input include items produced by 14 related industries. The major industries that benefit are cement, stone mining, tiles and marble, cement blocks, and reinforcement steel. Ten of the related industries which supply the needed materials for constructions are local. Their shares in supplying materials for the Palestinian housing construction range from 100% such as the case of stones, blocks, and aggregates to about 10% such as in case of electrical materials.The study also revealed that by investing one billion dollars in the Palestinian housing industry will lead to a direct effect on ten local industries by absorbing $ 248 million worth of their products. It also will generate labour valued at $ 247 million, which will produce 49,600 jobs. Other 6,150 jobs will be generated in the related industries. Finally, the study pointed out the major obstacles facing the development of the Palestinian housing constructions and suggested possible ways and means to cope with such problems.
SSRN Electronic Journal, 2000
The Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies (RSCAS), created in 1992 and directed by Stefano B... more The Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies (RSCAS), created in 1992 and directed by Stefano Bartolini since September 2006, aims to develop inter-disciplinary and comparative research and to promote work on the major issues facing the process of integration and European society.
This research aims to examine the possibility of applying the concept of private participation in... more This research aims to examine the possibility of applying the concept of private participation in managing the municipal business activities including utilities' services in the Palestinian local government units. In order to fulfill the stated purposes of this study, two special questionnaires were articulated and directed to one hundred municipal citizens and 140 municipal stakeholders from local governments and other related agencies. The study found that almost all forms of PPP experiences existed in the Palestinian municipalities at low scale level. The study found that the majority of municipal citizens still prefer that the municipalities own and operate the majority of municipal activities and projects, while private participation should be limited to operating some selected municipal projects in yearly or long term contracts. Finally, this study concluded that the majority of municipal officials including municipal directors are less enthusiastic compared to other stake...
SSRN Electronic Journal, 2000
ABSTRACT This study aims to discuss the profitability and performance of the water sector in the ... more ABSTRACT This study aims to discuss the profitability and performance of the water sector in the Palestinian economy. The water utility provided for the Palestinians through two channels, either through special departments within local municipalities and village councils, or through independent specialized public authorities. The study used two research instruments to accomplish the stated purposes including financial analysis for various aspects of cost, revenues, ratio of lost, collection ratio for existing water projects. In addition a special questionnaire to get the perceptions of the related stakeholders including citizens regarding the major issues related to providing water supply, such as the price, quality of services and about the concept of private sector participation of running the water project sector in the Palestinian economy.The study found that water projects provide about one quarter of the total revenues for local governments including municipalities and village councils, In addition almost all water projects which offer water supply to Palestinian citizens in West Banks produced revenues at district level, with profit ratio ranged between 15% up to up to 37% annually. The price of water is varied in the Palestinian municipalities and districts, it ranged from 6.66 NIS in Ramallah district (almost 2 $) to 1.23 NIS (30 cents) in Qalqilia municipality. This is due to various reasons including the cost of production and distribution; administrative cost and the ratio of water lose. Thus, the margin contribution of water m3 is also varied for individual water projects, but the majority has positive return. The output of water projects will be more profitable if the water lost ratio reduced and the collection ratio of account receivable improved.
SSRN Electronic Journal, 2000
ABSTRACT This study presented the issue of solid waste collection and dumping management, in the ... more ABSTRACT This study presented the issue of solid waste collection and dumping management, in the Palestinian local governments as represented by Municipalities. This issue was examined through measuring the feasibility of the existing status in the Palestinian municipalities and analyzing cost-revenues aspects of such service in selected Palestinian municipalities. In addition, the opinion of the Palestinian citizens as well as the perceptions of selected stakeholders towards major aspects of managing and collecting Palestinian municipal solid waste, were collected, including the concept of private participation. Other concepts and alternatives were explored regarding the best ways and means of implementing this complicated activity and make less expensive as well as more efficient. The participated stakeholders including the municipal management staff from selected Palestinian municipalities as well as Palestinian municipal residents.Based on the findings of this study, it may be reported that the function of solid waste is still completely run by Palestinian municipalities, in spite of the fact that there is a private sector participating in offering some municipal services. The solid waste activity cost the Palestinian municipalities from 3% to 32% of the total budget. The majority of the municipal officials believe that the responsibility of covering- dumping the solid waste should be transferred to joint specialized councils which may be established among different municipalities. In addition, the issue of dumping the garbage after being gathered, and the shortage of garbage fees and the low collection efficiency are the major problems facing the solid waste activity faced by Palestinian municipalities. The Palestinian residences still prefer that municipal activities to be supplied by municipalities and not by private sector.
SSRN Electronic Journal, 2000
ABSTRACT The Palestinian economy has no national currency which led to having three currencies in... more ABSTRACT The Palestinian economy has no national currency which led to having three currencies in use for deposits, saving, wealth measurement and trade transactions. Thus leads to make challenges to the management of banking treasury activities and balances of each single currency in the Palestinian economy. Therefore, this research aimed to target this issue, using three research instruments. Three research instruments were used including: Examining the related laws, imposed by the PMA on banks working in Palestinian economy as well as individual banking regulations, structures interviews with banks treasurers, and a relevant questionnaires was directed to a selected samples of treasury staff and employees regarding challenges to the management of banking treasury and closeting of foreign currency positions. The study found that management of the banks working in the Palestinian economy imposed more strict levels then that imposed by PMA and decreased it to 1% to 3%, of the total owner equity instead of 5%, while others (42%) reduced the maximum permitted surplus of a currency to a value ranged between 200,000 US$ and 500,000 US$. For closing the surplus of currencies, the majority of banks close it in the last hour of working day. The majority of treasuries' staff strongly agreed that there is a need for additional legislation to cover all related transactions to facilitate the work of the treasury. The study recommended to relaxing the maximum ratio of 5% imposed on each single currency to be hold more than blatancies, keeping the 20% level from owner equity to the total of currencies, extending the time of work including Fridays, reducing the restrictions on investments outside Palestine, permitting trading in options and future transactions including duke deposits and margins.
SSRN Electronic Journal, 2000
ABSTRACT This research aims to point out to what extent internet-banking, ATMs and other electron... more ABSTRACT This research aims to point out to what extent internet-banking, ATMs and other electronic money instruments are used in the Palestinian economy based on multi currencies. It used multi research instruments including: Examining the related laws, rules and regulations regarding the issue, structured interviews and relevant questionnaires were articulated and conducted to selected samples of bankers and banks’ clients from 12 banks. The study found that all Palestinian banks have ATM machines, which deals with three currencies including JD, NIS, and USD with various transactions, while about a half of the banks issue credit cards to their clients, and offer internet inquires and internet transactions. With the exception of ATM, the majority of the banking clients don’t know about the existing possibilities of E- banking channels available in their banks and/ or how to use it. The banking directors and staff do not see much increase in using the E- banking transactions by their clients, in spite of the new adopted electronic instruments by the majority of banks in the last decade.
SSRN Electronic Journal, 2000
T Th he e E Ec co on no om mi ic c R Re es se ea ar rc ch h F Fo or ru um m, , E Eg gy yp pt t 20... more T Th he e E Ec co on no om mi ic c R Re es se ea ar rc ch h F Fo or ru um m, , E Eg gy yp pt t 2006 1945. Out of total deposits, 64% were held by foreign Banks, 27% by local banks, and 9% by credit cooperatives. On the other hand, total credit advances mounted up to 25 million LP with the industry sector enjoying 22% of total credit advances, 18% for agriculture, and 28% for commercial sector. The major Arab banks were the Arab
Transforming Government: People, Process and Policy, 2007
Purpose – This study aims to analyze major concerns facing the Palestinian local governments in o... more Purpose – This study aims to analyze major concerns facing the Palestinian local governments in order to increase efficiency, effectiveness, and transparency in managing local governments. Design/methodology/approach – A special questionnaire was developed to collect the perception of the municipalities' officials; thus qualitative data analysis has been done to analyze the answers. Findings – The study found that the efficiency of local government is still limited in the Palestinian municipalities, including the absence of an internal auditor, the absence of written job descriptions for municipality functions, the weakness participation of the public. The study pointed out that the major-managerial problems are similar to other experiences of emerging countries such as the undefined local-central relation, the low participation and involvement of citizens in municipalities' activities and plans, and the lack of existing transparency aspects. Practical implications – There is a need for open public-official sessions of municipal councils and the need for periodical meetings for senior officials with the Mayer of the municipality; in addition, there is a need to conduct annual periodical evaluation for measuring the performance of municipal employees. Originality/value – This paper presented the features of the local-government performance in Palestine in order to enhance the management efficiency of local governments and enhance the contribution of the related groups of communities.
International Journal of Business and Globalisation, 2010
... Nidal Rashid Sabri is a Professor and Dean of the College of Economics at Birzeit University,... more ... Nidal Rashid Sabri is a Professor and Dean of the College of Economics at Birzeit University, Palestine. He served as a Consultant on missions with UNESCWA, UNDP, UNIDO, UNCTAD, UNHABITAT, ILO and IMF. He published ...
International Journal of Business and Globalisation, 2012
SSRN Electronic Journal, 1995
Professor Sabri is a known financial analyst, who served as a consultant on several missions with... more Professor Sabri is a known financial analyst, who served as a consultant on several missions with the UN firms including; the UN Industrial Development Organization, the United Nations Center for Human Settlements and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development. In addition, he participated in Academic conferences with working papers including The Economic Research Forum at Rabat, The European Financial Management Meeting, The Arab Management Conference at Bradford.
This paper aims to investigate the role of housing as an internal leading sector in the Palestini... more This paper aims to investigate the role of housing as an internal leading sector in the Palestinian economy. In order to indicate to what extend investment in the housing sector may generate employment. In addition this paper aims to point out how growth in housing construction affects the related industries. The study examined the latest official statistics as well as used a special instrument to analyze the input ratios of a sample of completed public and private housing projects. The study is based on the assumption that the Palestinian housing sector will accomplish a growth rate of 5% annually in the medium term. The Palestinian housing sector includes 336,100 units. Of this total about 56% of the housing units are single houses built from concrete, while 25% are single houses built from stone. The multi-building units built from cement form 13% of the total housing units, while stone multi-building units form 6% of the total Palestinian housing units. The study indicated that the average weighted ratios for housing construction inputs include 24.51% for Labour cost, 51% for the materials, and 24.6% for other cost items. The materials input include items produced by 14 related industries. The major industries that benefit are cement, stone mining, tiles and marble, cement blocks, and reinforcement steel. Ten of the related industries which supply the needed materials for constructions are local. Their shares in supplying materials for the Palestinian housing construction range from 100% such as the case of stones, blocks, and aggregates to about 10% such as in case of electrical materials.The study also revealed that by investing one billion dollars in the Palestinian housing industry will lead to a direct effect on ten local industries by absorbing $ 248 million worth of their products. It also will generate labour valued at $ 247 million, which will produce 49,600 jobs. Other 6,150 jobs will be generated in the related industries. Finally, the study pointed out the major obstacles facing the development of the Palestinian housing constructions and suggested possible ways and means to cope with such problems.
SSRN Electronic Journal, 2000
The Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies (RSCAS), created in 1992 and directed by Stefano B... more The Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies (RSCAS), created in 1992 and directed by Stefano Bartolini since September 2006, aims to develop inter-disciplinary and comparative research and to promote work on the major issues facing the process of integration and European society.
This research aims to examine the possibility of applying the concept of private participation in... more This research aims to examine the possibility of applying the concept of private participation in managing the municipal business activities including utilities' services in the Palestinian local government units. In order to fulfill the stated purposes of this study, two special questionnaires were articulated and directed to one hundred municipal citizens and 140 municipal stakeholders from local governments and other related agencies. The study found that almost all forms of PPP experiences existed in the Palestinian municipalities at low scale level. The study found that the majority of municipal citizens still prefer that the municipalities own and operate the majority of municipal activities and projects, while private participation should be limited to operating some selected municipal projects in yearly or long term contracts. Finally, this study concluded that the majority of municipal officials including municipal directors are less enthusiastic compared to other stake...
SSRN Electronic Journal, 2000
ABSTRACT This study aims to discuss the profitability and performance of the water sector in the ... more ABSTRACT This study aims to discuss the profitability and performance of the water sector in the Palestinian economy. The water utility provided for the Palestinians through two channels, either through special departments within local municipalities and village councils, or through independent specialized public authorities. The study used two research instruments to accomplish the stated purposes including financial analysis for various aspects of cost, revenues, ratio of lost, collection ratio for existing water projects. In addition a special questionnaire to get the perceptions of the related stakeholders including citizens regarding the major issues related to providing water supply, such as the price, quality of services and about the concept of private sector participation of running the water project sector in the Palestinian economy.The study found that water projects provide about one quarter of the total revenues for local governments including municipalities and village councils, In addition almost all water projects which offer water supply to Palestinian citizens in West Banks produced revenues at district level, with profit ratio ranged between 15% up to up to 37% annually. The price of water is varied in the Palestinian municipalities and districts, it ranged from 6.66 NIS in Ramallah district (almost 2 $) to 1.23 NIS (30 cents) in Qalqilia municipality. This is due to various reasons including the cost of production and distribution; administrative cost and the ratio of water lose. Thus, the margin contribution of water m3 is also varied for individual water projects, but the majority has positive return. The output of water projects will be more profitable if the water lost ratio reduced and the collection ratio of account receivable improved.
SSRN Electronic Journal, 2000
ABSTRACT This study presented the issue of solid waste collection and dumping management, in the ... more ABSTRACT This study presented the issue of solid waste collection and dumping management, in the Palestinian local governments as represented by Municipalities. This issue was examined through measuring the feasibility of the existing status in the Palestinian municipalities and analyzing cost-revenues aspects of such service in selected Palestinian municipalities. In addition, the opinion of the Palestinian citizens as well as the perceptions of selected stakeholders towards major aspects of managing and collecting Palestinian municipal solid waste, were collected, including the concept of private participation. Other concepts and alternatives were explored regarding the best ways and means of implementing this complicated activity and make less expensive as well as more efficient. The participated stakeholders including the municipal management staff from selected Palestinian municipalities as well as Palestinian municipal residents.Based on the findings of this study, it may be reported that the function of solid waste is still completely run by Palestinian municipalities, in spite of the fact that there is a private sector participating in offering some municipal services. The solid waste activity cost the Palestinian municipalities from 3% to 32% of the total budget. The majority of the municipal officials believe that the responsibility of covering- dumping the solid waste should be transferred to joint specialized councils which may be established among different municipalities. In addition, the issue of dumping the garbage after being gathered, and the shortage of garbage fees and the low collection efficiency are the major problems facing the solid waste activity faced by Palestinian municipalities. The Palestinian residences still prefer that municipal activities to be supplied by municipalities and not by private sector.
SSRN Electronic Journal, 2000
ABSTRACT The Palestinian economy has no national currency which led to having three currencies in... more ABSTRACT The Palestinian economy has no national currency which led to having three currencies in use for deposits, saving, wealth measurement and trade transactions. Thus leads to make challenges to the management of banking treasury activities and balances of each single currency in the Palestinian economy. Therefore, this research aimed to target this issue, using three research instruments. Three research instruments were used including: Examining the related laws, imposed by the PMA on banks working in Palestinian economy as well as individual banking regulations, structures interviews with banks treasurers, and a relevant questionnaires was directed to a selected samples of treasury staff and employees regarding challenges to the management of banking treasury and closeting of foreign currency positions. The study found that management of the banks working in the Palestinian economy imposed more strict levels then that imposed by PMA and decreased it to 1% to 3%, of the total owner equity instead of 5%, while others (42%) reduced the maximum permitted surplus of a currency to a value ranged between 200,000 US$ and 500,000 US$. For closing the surplus of currencies, the majority of banks close it in the last hour of working day. The majority of treasuries' staff strongly agreed that there is a need for additional legislation to cover all related transactions to facilitate the work of the treasury. The study recommended to relaxing the maximum ratio of 5% imposed on each single currency to be hold more than blatancies, keeping the 20% level from owner equity to the total of currencies, extending the time of work including Fridays, reducing the restrictions on investments outside Palestine, permitting trading in options and future transactions including duke deposits and margins.
SSRN Electronic Journal, 2000
ABSTRACT This research aims to point out to what extent internet-banking, ATMs and other electron... more ABSTRACT This research aims to point out to what extent internet-banking, ATMs and other electronic money instruments are used in the Palestinian economy based on multi currencies. It used multi research instruments including: Examining the related laws, rules and regulations regarding the issue, structured interviews and relevant questionnaires were articulated and conducted to selected samples of bankers and banks’ clients from 12 banks. The study found that all Palestinian banks have ATM machines, which deals with three currencies including JD, NIS, and USD with various transactions, while about a half of the banks issue credit cards to their clients, and offer internet inquires and internet transactions. With the exception of ATM, the majority of the banking clients don’t know about the existing possibilities of E- banking channels available in their banks and/ or how to use it. The banking directors and staff do not see much increase in using the E- banking transactions by their clients, in spite of the new adopted electronic instruments by the majority of banks in the last decade.
SSRN Electronic Journal, 2000
T Th he e E Ec co on no om mi ic c R Re es se ea ar rc ch h F Fo or ru um m, , E Eg gy yp pt t 20... more T Th he e E Ec co on no om mi ic c R Re es se ea ar rc ch h F Fo or ru um m, , E Eg gy yp pt t 2006 1945. Out of total deposits, 64% were held by foreign Banks, 27% by local banks, and 9% by credit cooperatives. On the other hand, total credit advances mounted up to 25 million LP with the industry sector enjoying 22% of total credit advances, 18% for agriculture, and 28% for commercial sector. The major Arab banks were the Arab
Transforming Government: People, Process and Policy, 2007
Purpose – This study aims to analyze major concerns facing the Palestinian local governments in o... more Purpose – This study aims to analyze major concerns facing the Palestinian local governments in order to increase efficiency, effectiveness, and transparency in managing local governments. Design/methodology/approach – A special questionnaire was developed to collect the perception of the municipalities' officials; thus qualitative data analysis has been done to analyze the answers. Findings – The study found that the efficiency of local government is still limited in the Palestinian municipalities, including the absence of an internal auditor, the absence of written job descriptions for municipality functions, the weakness participation of the public. The study pointed out that the major-managerial problems are similar to other experiences of emerging countries such as the undefined local-central relation, the low participation and involvement of citizens in municipalities' activities and plans, and the lack of existing transparency aspects. Practical implications – There is a need for open public-official sessions of municipal councils and the need for periodical meetings for senior officials with the Mayer of the municipality; in addition, there is a need to conduct annual periodical evaluation for measuring the performance of municipal employees. Originality/value – This paper presented the features of the local-government performance in Palestine in order to enhance the management efficiency of local governments and enhance the contribution of the related groups of communities.
International Journal of Business and Globalisation, 2010
... Nidal Rashid Sabri is a Professor and Dean of the College of Economics at Birzeit University,... more ... Nidal Rashid Sabri is a Professor and Dean of the College of Economics at Birzeit University, Palestine. He served as a Consultant on missions with UNESCWA, UNDP, UNIDO, UNCTAD, UNHABITAT, ILO and IMF. He published ...
International Journal of Business and Globalisation, 2012