April was the worst month for Israeli businesses in the last decade, the Central Bureau of Statistics reported on Sunday.
The economic crisis beget by the coronavirus epidemic has particularly affected the country's manufacturing sector, which is highly dependent on exports that were reduced due to worldwide lockdowns.
The manufacturing sector is the only part of the economy that continued to decline until at least May as companies in other fields showed signs of slight improvement, the report said.
The Central Bureau of Statistics, which releases a monthly report on the state of the country's economy since 2011, said April 2020 has seen the worst results for Israel's business sector since record-keeping began.
Before the onset of the pandemic in Israel, the country's economy was running at full throttle, sporting one of the world's lowest unemployment rates, standing at a mere 3.4% in February.
Unemployment has skyrocketed since due to the all-engulfing economic restrictions, reaching a record 27.5% in mid-April.
The economic fallout from coronavirus in Israel could lead to half a million unemployed by the beginning of 2021, government officials said Sunday.
This current estimate puts the unemployment rate around 10%-11% by January of 2021.
Tens of thousands more might lose their jobs in the future, especially those employed in fields that struggle to bounce back from the crisis, such as dining, aviation, and tourism.
In addition, many of those still on unpaid leave might not receive unemployment benefits for the month of June as the country continues to phase out some of the restrictions on the economy.
Furthermore, according to a survey published last week, around 65 percent of small Israeli start-ups believe that their foundations are not strong enough to maintain their operations in the next six months due to the financial upheaval.