Israel's economic growth and unemployment rate are both expected to go up in coming future against the backdrop of a stronger global economic recovery, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said.
Israel's economic growth will increase from this year's 3.2% to 3.4% in 2015, driven mainly by the start of gas production from the country's offshore Tamar and Leviathan gas fields.
In its biannual economic forecast, the World Economic Outlook 2014, the IMF forecast is more optimistic than that of Israel's central bank which expects only a 3% growth in 2014.
The IMF also warned that the unemployment rate in Israel is expected to rise from 6% in 2013 to 6.7% this year. The country's Jewish ultra-Orthodox men and Arab women are more likely to become jobless as a result of both their own traditional society and a discriminatory labor market.
