According to preliminary estimates released last Monday by the Central Bureau of Statistics ( CBS ), Israel's economy will grow by 4% in 2004.
The estimates put the GDP per capita at NIS 76,900 in 2004, an increase of 2.2% compared with 2003.
Exports, should go up 11.5% in 2004 as the global economy rebounds from its own difficulties and imports will increase by 11.2%.
In a statement published last week the CBS projected that private consumption will increase 4.5% this year compared with 2003 as the economy moves out of the recession that lasted about three and a half years. the 4% growth rate projected for 2004 follows a mere 1.3% posted in 2003, and negative growth of 0.7% in 2002.
It must be noted that at the end of 2003, the Finance Ministry was conservatively predicting 2.5% growth for 2004, a figure it later lifted in to 3.8%. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) predicted a few weeks later a growth rate of 2.5% for Israeli economy in 2004.
