Israel's economy shrank 2.6% in 2020 in final revision

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This figure was slightly worse than the previous estimate of a 2.4% contraction in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) last year.

Israel's economy shrank by 2.6% in 2020 in the third and final revision issued by the Central Bureau of Statistics today. This figure was slightly worse than the previous estimate of a 2.4% contraction in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) last year.

This figure is still better than the Bank of Israel forecast of a 3.7% contraction and is way lower than the OECD average for 2020, with economies hit hard by the Covid-19 crisis.

Private consumption in Israel in 2020 contracted by 9.5% compared with 9.4% in the previous estimate.

Israel's economy grew at 6.5% on an annualized basis in the fourth quarter of 2020, up from the previous estimate of 6.4%.

Tomorrow the Bank of Israel will publish its interest rate decision and is expected to keep it at 0.1%. However, the Bank of Israel is expected to raise its growth forecast for 2021.

Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on April 18, 2021