Slowdown felt mainly in investments in Israeli economy
Photo: Index Open
Economic slowdown continues, CBS says
Israeli economy grows by just 2.5% in fourth quarter of 2012, compared to 2.8% in third quarter
The Israeli economy grew by 2.5% in the fourth quarter of 2012, according to a first assessment published Sunday by the Central Bureau of Statistics.
This figure points to a continued slowdown in Israel's economic activity, following a 2.8% growth recorded in the third quarter of 2012 and a 2.9% growth in the second quarter.
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The CBS assessment from December that Israel's economy grew by 3.3% in 2012 may now be updated downward. This assessment did not take into account the growth in the fourth quarter due to lack of sufficient data.
The slowdown in the fourth quarter, and in the rest of the year, was felt mainly in terms of investments in the Israeli economy, which fell 5.5% in the second half of the year. A slight drop of 1.6% was recorded in the export of goods and services.
A slowdown was also felt in private consumption of consumer durables, which went down 14.1% in the second half of 2012 after a 12.2% drop in the second half of 2011.
A significant decline was also recorded in the volume of goods and services imported to Israel, which fell 10.7%, the purchase of household equipment (5.5% drop per capita), and household spending on furniture (down 3.3% per capita).
