2013 was a good year for the services sector. The Israel Export and International Cooperation Institute reported today that services exports rose by 8% in 2013 to $33.5 billion. The Export Institute's data indicate that the growth in services exports offset the drop in the exports of goods last year.
The Export Institute said that this was the second consecutive year in which exports of services offset a drop in the exports of goods, preventing a general drop in exports. Analysis by the Export Institute found that exports of business services, excluding start-ups, rose by 6.5% in 2013, compared with 2012, to $21 billion. The start-ups item also contributed to overall export figures, after foreign companies acquired Israeli companies for $6.5 billion in 2013. One of the biggest deals was the sale of Waze Ltd. to Google Inc. (Nasdaq: GOOG) for $1 billion.
"Innovation and the interest in Israeli companies, which was reflected by last year's exports of services data, are very encouraging on one hand, but on the other hand, the small effect of these deals on the Israeli jobs market, because of the exit of companies from Israel is something that we must think about thoroughly," says Export Institute CEO Ofer Sachs. "More than half of the companies that were acquired by foreign companies terminated their activity in Israel and merged with the buyer. 30% of the companies became R&D centers of foreign companies, and only 14% of the companies acquired by foreign companies continued independent operations in Israel."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on January 26, 2014
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