Economy - overview:
Israel has a technologically advanced 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. Israel imports substantial quantities of grain, but is largely self-sufficient in other agricultural products. Cut diamonds, high-technology equipment, and agricultural products (fruits and vegetables) are the leading exports. Israel usually posts sizable 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 US, which is its major source of economic and military aid. The bitter Israeli-Palestinian conflict; difficulties in the high-technology, construction, and tourist sectors; and fiscal austerity in the face of growing inflation led to small declines in GDP in 2001 and 2002. The economy rebounded in 2003 and 2004, growing at a 4% rate each year, as the government tightened fiscal policy and implemented structural reforms to boost competition and efficiency in the markets. In 2005, rising consumer confidence, tourism, and foreign direct investment - as well as higher demand for Israeli exports - boosted GDP by 4.7%.
GDP (purchasing power parity):
$140.1 billion (2005 est.)
GDP (official exchange rate):
$121.2 billion (2005 est.)
GDP - real growth rate:
4.7% (2005 est.)
GDP - per capita (PPP):
$22,300 (2005 est.)
GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture: 2.8%
industry: 37.7%
services: 59.5% (2003 est.)
Labor force:
2.42 million (2005 est.)
Labor force - by occupation:
agriculture, forestry, and fishing 2.6%, manufacturing 20.2%, construction 7.5%, commerce 12.8%, transport, storage, and communications 6.2%, finance and business 13.1%, personal and other services 6.4%, public services 31.2% (1996)
Unemployment rate:
8.9% (2005 est.)
Population below poverty line:
21% (2005)
Household income or consumption by percentage share:
lowest 10%: 2.4%
highest 10%: 28.3% (1997)
Distribution of family income - Gini index:
34 (2005)
Inflation rate (consumer prices):
1.3% (2005 est.)
Investment (gross fixed):
17.5% of GDP (2005 est.)
Budget:
revenues: $43.82 billion
expenditures: $58.04 billion; including capital expenditures of $NA (2005 est.)
Public debt:
101% of GDP (2005 est.)
Agriculture - products:
citrus, vegetables, cotton; beef, poultry, dairy products
Industries:
high-technology projects (including aviation, communications, computer-aided design and manufactures, medical electronics, fiber optics), wood and paper products, potash and phosphates, food, beverages, and tobacco, caustic soda, cement, construction, metals products, chemical products, plastics, diamond cutting, textiles, footwear
Industrial production growth rate:
4.8% (2005 est.)
Electricity - production:
44.24 billion kWh (2003)
Electricity - consumption:
39.67 billion kWh (2003)
Electricity - exports:
1.47 billion kWh (2003)
Electricity - imports:
0 kWh (2003)
Oil - production:
2,740 bbl/day (2003 est.)
Oil - consumption:
270,100 bbl/day (2003 est.)
Oil - exports:
NA bbl/day
Oil - imports:
NA bbl/day
Oil - proved reserves:
1.92 million bbl (1 January 2002)
Natural gas - production:
200 million cu m (2003 est.)
Natural gas - consumption:
200 million cu m (2003 est.)
Natural gas - exports:
0 cu m (2001 est.)
Natural gas - imports:
0 cu m (2001 est.)
Natural gas - proved reserves:
38.94 billion cu m (1 January 2002)
Current account balance:
$500 million (2005 est.)
Exports:
$40.14 billion f.o.b. (2005 est.)
Exports - commodities:
machinery and equipment, software, cut diamonds, agricultural products, chemicals, textiles and apparel
Exports - partners:
US 36.8%, Belgium 7.5%, Hong Kong 4.9% (2004)
Imports:
$43.19 billion f.o.b. (2005 est.)
Imports - commodities:
raw materials, military equipment, investment goods, rough diamonds, fuels, grain, consumer goods
Imports - partners:
US 15%, Belgium 10.1%, Germany 7.5%, Switzerland 6.5%, UK 6.1% (2004)
Reserves of foreign exchange and gold:
$29.69 billion (2005 est.)
Debt - external:
$73.87 billion (30 June 2005 est.)
Economic aid - recipient:
$662 million from US (2003 est.)
Currency (code):
new Israeli shekel (ILS); note - NIS is the currency abbreviation; ILS is the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) code for the NIS
Exchange rates:
new Israeli shekels per US dollar - 4.4877 (2005), 4.482 (2004), 4.5541 (2003), 4.7378 (2002), 4.2057 (2001)
Fiscal year:
calendar year
