CBS: Israel's economy to grow 4.1% in 2010

The CBS predicts that exports will climb 13.1%, after falling 12.5% in 2009, and that consumer spending will increase 5% and residential building by 11.1%
 
The Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) predicted last week that Israel's GDP should grow by 4.1% in 2010. The CBS issued the prediction ahead of the Jewish New Year, in its latest publication of "Selected Data from the New Israel Statistical Abstract No. 61 - 2010".
The CBS predicts that exports, which account for about half of gross domestic product, will climb 13.1%, after falling 12.5% in 2009, and that consumer spending will increase 5% and residential building by 11.1%.
 
The CBS also says that Israel's economy expanded 0.8% in 2009 and growth this year is expected to be about the same as in 2008 when the expansion was 4.2%. In the four years preceding the global economic crisis, the economy expanded by between 4.9 to 5.7% annually.
GDP growth of 4.1%, if realized, will be considerably higher than the projected overall average annual growth of 2.7% in OECD member countries.
 
The CBS's growth estimate compares with the Bank of Israel's April forecast of 3.7%. However, the Bank of Israel is expected to revise its growth forecast upwards.
 
The CBS sees business output rising 4.5% in 2010 compared with 0% in 2009. In addition, there is a 5% rise in consumption predicted for 2010 compared with a rise of 1.7% in 2009 with private consumption per capital, also known as the "standard of living" rising 3% in 2010 compared with a fall of 0.2% in 2009.