Israel’s third-quarter GDP growth exceeded analysts’ expectations. According to the initial estimate that was released by the Central Bureau of Statistics today, the country’s economy increased by an annualised 2.1% from July through September when compared to the previous three months. However, the decline in consumer spending contributed to a slower rate of economic expansion.

This is greater than the 2.0% projected by Reuters polled analysts. After delivering strong results in the preceding time period, sales of consumer durables, most notably cars, were the only sector to show signs of cooling.

Following the increase of 9.3% in Q2, private expenditure, which constitutes more than half of all economic activity, dropped 1.7%. 

Overall, the Israeli economy expanded by 5.8% during the period of twelve months ending in September 2022. It has to expand by only a modest amount in Q4 to surpass the Bank of Israel’s (BOI) estimate of 6% GDP growth in 2022.

During 2021 the country’s economy expanded by more than 8%.

According to the Central Bureau of Statistics, Israel’s inflation rate published yesterday jumped more than predicted to 5.1% over the previous 12 months in October, up from 4.6%, and is expected to provoke a significant increase in the interest rate by the BOI on November 21. 

In the meantime, the weakness in the dollar due to the potential Fed’s changes in the monetary policy, recent Wall Street gains on the back of it, and a projected rate hike by BOI continued strengthening the shekel.