A very sharp 1% drop in the Bank of Israel's composite State of the Economy Index in December points to the worsening economic situation.
The declining state of the economy is also seen in the fact that every component of the index fell. There was a sharp 13% fall in the services exports index in December, after it rose in November, and the goods exports index fell 7.1% in December after rising 1.8% in November.
Other indices, such as the trade and services revenue index, the index of manufacturing production, the goods imports index also fell.
The index for the previous three months was revised downward as well. The September index was revised to show a negative 0.6% change, from a negative 0.3% change, October was revised to a drop of 0.5% from negative 0.3%, and November was changed to negative 0.6%, from negative 0.4%.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on January 19, 2009
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