Tourist arrivals were down by 30% in the first two weeks of the fighting. Hotels in Israel expected to have their best August in five years and now face occupancy levels fallen to 70% from 90% in June

Mr. Yehiel Asia, Director General of the Israeli Export and International Cooperation Institute, said last week that despite the war in Lebanon, no change is expected in the level of exports to the Arab countries in 2006

During the first week of the war, 65% of factories were fully or partially open, and 35% were closed

Defense Minister Amir Peretz said last week that he favored levying a war tax of 2% on residents of central and southern areas

The moshav movementwill buy the kibbutzim's shares in CAL (43.5%), thereby reaching an 87% majority stake in the company. CALflies annually close to 140,000 tons

The Central Bureau of Statistics released last week indicating that Israel’s annual inflation rate fell to 2.3% in April-June 2006

In a detailed report the CBS noted that high-tech output rose by an annualized 14.7%. High tech exports rose by 29%

According to Fisher, the direct weekly cost of the war to the economy is between NIS 750 million and NIS 1.2 billion