The Israeli economy, which shrugged off the world financial crisis, is set to show another year of strong growth, with increased consumer spending taking the lead from exports as the key driver, a survey of forecasters by The Media Line shows.
Israel’s gross domestic product will probably expand 3.6% in 2011, according to a median of 12 forecasters polled by The Media Line. That’s a decline from the median estimate of 4% growth for this year and the slowest pace since 2003. But Israeli growth is on track to outpace the average for the world’s developed economies, which the International Monetary Fund (IMF) estimated in October would be 2.2%.
Exports, led by chemical pharmaceutical and technology, jumped more than 20% in the first 11 months of the year as demand in the U.S. and Europe, Israel’s biggest markets, emerged from recession. But the demand will grow much less this year, with the IMF forecasting imports from the developed world increasing about 5% in 2011, half this year’s rate.
The median forecast of nine economists polled by The Media Line sees inflation reaching about 2.8% in 2011, up from 2.6% in 2010. That puts the rate inside the government’s target of 1% to 3% annually, but trialing inflation may well exceed it for most of next year.
http://www.themedialine.org/news/news_detail.asp?NewsID=30950 [2]