Overview: Israel has a market economy with substantial government participation. It depends on imports of crude oil, grains, raw materials, and military equipment. Despite limited natural resources, Israel has intensively developed its agricultural and industrial sectors over the past 20 years. Industry employs about 22% of Israeli workers, construction 6.5%, agriculture, forestry, and fishing 3.5%, and services most of the rest. Diamonds, high-technology equipment, and agricultural products (fruits and vegetables) are leading exports. Israel usually posts current account deficits, which are covered by large transfer payments from abroad and by foreign loans. Roughly half of the government's external debt is owed to the United States, which is its major source of economic and military aid. To earn needed foreign exchange, Israel has been targeting high-technology niches in international markets, such as medical scanning equipment. The influx of Jewish immigrants from the former USSR, which topped 450,000 during the period 1990-93, increased unemployment, intensified housing problems, and strained the government budget. At the same time, the immigrants bring to the economy valuable scientific and professional expertise. Economic problems have eased as immigration has declined, but activity has slowed as the economy shifts from housing to export-driven growth.

National product: GDP - purchasing power equivalent - $65.7 billion (1993 est.)

National product real growth rate: 3.5% (1993 est.)

National product per capita: $13,350 (1993 est.)

Inflation rate (consumer prices): 11.3% (1993 est.)

Unemployment rate: 10.4% (1993 est.)

Budget:
revenues: $33.4 billion
expenditures: $36.3 billion, including capital expenditures of $9.4 billion (FY93)

Exports: $14.1 billion (f.o.b., 1993 est.)
commodities: machinery and equipment, cut diamonds, chemicals, textiles and apparel, agricultural products, metals
partners: US, EC, Japan

Imports: $20.3 billion (c.i.f., 1993 est.)
commodities: military equipment, investment goods, rough diamonds, oil, other productive inputs, consumer goods
partners: US, EC

External debt: $24.8 billion (December 1993 est.)

Industrial production: growth rate 6.5% (1993 est.); accounts for about 30% of GDP

Electricity:
capacity: 5,835,000 kW
production: 21.84 billion kWh
consumption per capita: 4,600 kWh (1992)

Industries: food processing, diamond cutting and polishing, textiles and apparel, chemicals, metal products, military equipment, transport equipment, electrical equipment, miscellaneous machinery, potash mining, high-technology electronics, tourism

Agriculture: accounts for about 7% of GDP; largely self-sufficient in food production, except for grains; principal products - citrus and other fruits, vegetables, cotton; livestock products - beef, dairy, poultry

Illicit drugs: increasingly concerned about cocaine and heroin abuse and trafficking

Economic aid:
recipient: US commitments, including Ex-Im (FY70-90), $18.2 billion; Western (non-US) countries, ODA and OOF bilateral commitments (1970-89), $2.8 billion

Currency: 1 new Israeli shekel (NIS) = 100 new agorot
Exchange rates: new Israeli shekels (NIS) per US$1 - 2.9760 (February 1994), 2.8301 (1993), 2.4591 (1992), 2.2791 (1991), 2.0162 (1990), 1.9164 (1989)

Fiscal year: calendar year (since 1 January 1992)

NOTE: The information regarding Israel on this page is re-published from the 1995 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Israel Economy 1995 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Israel Economy 1995 should be addressed to the CIA.