The Hamas government in Gaza has reportedly banned trading in the Forex market without permission from the Ministry of Economy. According to The New Arab, the ban is for selling or buying foreign currencies, securities or other currencies on foreign exchanges.
The media outlet noted that the measure was taken amid growing complaints of fraud. Moreover, the statement issued by Hamas highlights that holding any courses or training programs related to forex trading is also prohibited, pointing out that anyone who violates the provisions of the decision will face serious legal consequences.
“A number of unlicensed individuals or companies in Gaza have exploited the goals for which they were founded, and have engaged in this trading with the intention of defrauding people who have no experience in this field,” Yaqoub al-Ghandour, an official at the Ministry of Economy, commented on the matter saying that ‘the Ministry’s office received several complaints’ from people who lost their money via forex trading.
The official claimed that between 80 to 90 percent of the people who traded in Forex in Gaza had lost their money. However, the decision does not cover companies, banks, and other institutions that have already obtained licenses from the Monetary Authority delegated by the Palestinian Central Bank.
Ban on Pyramid-related Transactions
Previously, Gaza imposed a ban on ‘selling, buying, importing, trading, advertising or promoting any goods or service through the network or hierarchical marketing by any means, whether electronic or non-electronic,’ referring to any network or pyramid marketing.
Some testimonies were collected by local press on people who allegedly lost their money because of forex fraud schemes, like a Gaza-based resident who sold her gold jewelry to invest in forex: “I deposited about $US 3,000 hoping to get double the amount as a profit (...) At first, the broker was giving me about $US 200 over four months, as it was my profit, and the capital is the same.”
However, the intermediary, who was supposed to help her with the transaction with the broker, was no longer in Gaza and escaped to Turkey.
