The Chief Economist at the Ministry of Finance sees Israel's economy recovering more slowly than previously thought because of the Covid-19 crisis with the economy shrinking 7.2% in 2020, and the economy not returning to pre-pandemic levels until 2023, if the virus persists through the winter and requires parts of the economy to shut down. On the other hand, the Chief Economist at the Ministry of Finance also has a less severe forecast on the assumption that the Covid-19 crisis will continue only through to the end of the year, in which case the economy would shrink 5.9% in 2020 and grow 5.7% in 2021. In terms of unemployment, the Chief Economist at the Ministry of Finance sees 9.7% unemployment at the end of 2020 with a slight fall to 8% in 2021. But in the worse scenario of returning to lockdown, unemployment would stand at 15% at the end of 2020 and 12.4% in 2021. Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on August 2, 2020 © Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2020
