Israel: Best Economy in the West

Hillel Fendel
A7 News

Israel’s economy is the fastest-growing in the West, the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) reports.

Israel's Gross National Product grew by 4.5% in the year 2010, according to CBS data and estimates – 0.5% more than had been expected. This compares with only 2.7% in the other 33 countries of the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD). Israel became an OECD member state this past September.
In 2009, despite the great worldwide economic crash, Israel’s economy grew by 0.8% - and by 4.2% in 2008. The GNP per capita grew by 2.7% this year, compared with a drop of 1.1% the year before. In the OECD as a whole, this year’s per capita GNP grew by 2.3%.

Israel is also doing better in the employment arena than the rest of the OECD, with a 6.7% unemployment rate, compared with 8.3% in the other countries.

The CBS notes three notable developments in Israel's economy during 2010: Exports slowed during the third quarter, following the growth spurt in the second half of 2009; rapid growth of private consumption began to slow down; and investments in residential buildings and the like continued to grow.