Bank of Israel: Israel economic performance index down 0.4% in Nov

It is the fourth straight month of decline after a 0.3% drop in October. BOL: “A continuing slowdown in the economy”
 
The Bank of Israel (BoI ) said last Thursday that Israel's economic performance index, or "S" index, fell 0.4% in November, the fourth straight month of decline after a 0.3% drop in October.
The composite state-of-the-economy index is a synthetic cyclical indicator for examining the direction in which real economic activity is moving, in real time.
 
The index was calculated from the monthly changes in five components that reflect different aspects of real economic activity: the index of manufacturing production; imports, excluding capital goods; trade and services revenue; the number of employee postsin the business sector; and goods exports (excluding agriculture, fuel, diamonds, and ships and aircraft).
 
In a statement issued by the BoI the bank noted that: "The decrease in the index in the past months attests to a continuing slowdown in the economy, which started at the end of the second quarter of this year”.
 
(% change from prior month(
 
                                           Nov 2008     Oct 2008    Nov 2007
S index                                 - 0.4            - 0.3          + 0.9
Exports of services index       + 5.9             - 8.2             n/a
Exports of goods index          + 4.6             - 5.6             n/a
Imports index                       + 2.6           + 2.5            n/a
                                                   
                                                          Oct 2008    Sept 2008
Industrial production                             + 1.9           - 6.5
Revenue from commerce/services         - 2.1          + 1.4