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

In March 2008, import of goods totaled $6.0 billion, export of goods totaled $4.8 billion and the trade deficit totaled $1.2 billion

A1 rating is equal to the A+ awarded recently by Standard, Poor's and Fitch

The new NIS 20 banknotes will be put into general circulation from 13 April 2008. At the same time a special issue of 1,800,000 polymer banknotes commemorating Israel’s 60th anniversary will be put into circulation

According to a new research by the Bank of Israel, 20 business groups, nearly all of them family-owned, control 160 publicly-traded companies with a 40 percent segment of the market

The Ministry of Tourism announced last week that an increase of 36% was recorded in the numbers of incoming tourists visiting Israel in March 2008, with 267,000 tourists. In March 2007, 196,000 tourists arrived

David Borovich received from his brother an option to buy 16.8% stake in the firm at a company value of $145 million. The option is valid through May 20

Up to 26 scheduled weekly flights can be operated on Israel-Italian routes. Currently one Israeli and one Italian schedule airline are authorized to fly between the two countries