However, according to the prediction, the economy will regress to 4.7% growth in 2012 due to rising labor-supply constraints and more interest rate hikes

Israel was ranked 32nd in the organization's index, a slight improvement from the year before, when it ranked 33rd

The shekel was the world's strongest currency against the dollar in the 12 months preceding this summer, when a weak dollar bought as little as 3.22 shekels

In fixed prices, Israel's expenditure on civilian R&D rose by 7.2% in 2007, over the year before, after rising by 3.3% in 2006 and 4.5% in 2005

Israelis ranked 17th in the World Economic Forum Networked Readiness Index for 2007-08, with a score of 5.18, out of 127 countries covered

The rankings are drawn from a combination of publicly available hard data and the results of the Executive Opinion Survey

The 2006 Index of Economic Freedom, published last week by the Heritage Foundation and “The Wall Street Journal”, ranks Israel in the 36th place

Israel in the 20th place among 61 nations in the 2006 world competitiveness rankings. Israel has risen 22 places in the rankings from 42nd in 2005