Economy grows annualized 2.7% in Q1
Revised GDP for first quarter of 2013 slightly lower than previously estimated due to smaller growth rates of exports and consumer spending, steeper drop in investment
Growth is projected at 2.8% this year, excluding the start of natural gas production at a large well off Israel's Mediterranean coast, which is expected to add about 1 percentage point to gross domestic product.
GDP growth was 3.2% in 2012. Partly to encourage economic growth, the Bank of Israel cut its benchmark lending rate to 1.25% in two quarter-point moves in May.
Exports – which account for some 40% of Israel's economic activity – grew 12.8% in the first three months of 2013, below an initial estimate of 13.5%. Private spending rose 5% - slower than an initial 5.6% rate. Imports slipped 0.8%.
Investment in fixed assets slid 23.3%, more than in the first estimate, for its fourth straight quarterly decline. Government spending edged down 0.4%.
Fourth-quarter GDP was unrevised at an annualized 2.6% rate.
