Economy grows 3% in Q3 vs 1.2% in Q2
Central Bureau of Statistics says economy forecast to grow 3.5% in 2010. Growth in third quarter led by gains in exports, consumer spending, investment in fixed assets
Israel's economy grew an annualized 3% in the third quarter of 2009, unchanged from a prior estimate and higher than a 1.2% rise in the second quarter, the Central Bureau of Statistics said on Sunday.
The bureau has already estimated the economy grew a preliminary 0.5% for all of 2009. The economy is forecast to grow 3.5% in 2010.
Last month the bureau raised its estimate for third-quarter growth to 3% from an initially reported 2.2% rise.
GDP fell an annualized 1.7% in the first half of 2009.
Growth in the third quarter was led by gains in exports (+7.2%), consumer spending (+5.6%) and investment in fixed assets (+8.2%), the bureau said.
Excluding public spending, GDP rose an annualized 2.4% in the third quarter.
With the economy growing more rapidly in the second half of 2009 than expected, which helped to keep inflation high, the Bank of Israel has raised its key lending rate to 1.25% from 0.5% last August, the last move a quarter-point hike on December 28.
