_a.jpg "Photo: Yaron Brener")
Recession reported over (Archive photo)
Photo: Yaron Brener
Statistics Bureau: Recession ended in Q2
Central Bureau of Statistics reveals encouraging figures suggesting recession grinding to a halt; exports, private consumption up
Israel's gross domestic product's (GDP) average annual growth rate has shown a 1% increase in the second quarter of 2009, following a 3.2% drop in Q1 2009 and a 1.4% decrease during the 2008's last quarter, the Central Bureau of Statistics said Sunday.
A recession is defined as two consecutive quarters of GDP contraction. GDP is the market value of all final goods and services made within the borders of a country in a year.
Price Hike
Tani Goldstein
Consumer Price Index published by Central Bureau of Statistics higher than early assessments due to rise in value-added tax, price of water. Inflation rate of 3.2% recorded since beginning of 2009
According to the CBS, the first half of 2009 saw a 1.7% annualized drop in GDP because of the 3.2% decrease in the first quarter, which followed a 0.9% rise in the second half of 2008 and a 5.2% increase in the first half of last year.
The bureau said exports, which account for about 45% of GDP, increased an annualized 5.8% in the second quarter, adding that private consumption increased 4.4% while public consumption rose 19.8%.
The statistics also indicate a 3.3% annualized decrease in private consumption per capita in the first half of 2009, following a 2.6% drop in the second half of 2008.
The first half of 2009 saw a sharp downturn of 24.3% in annualized household expenditures on consumer durable goods (such as automobiles, furniture, appliances, etc.) Expenditures on non-durable goods (such as food, drinks, clothing, fuel, etc.) decreased by a moderate 1.2% per person when annualized.
Export of goods and services decreased in the first half of 2009 by 22.9%, following a decline of 11.8% in the last half of 2008. The decrease came mainly from export components. The tourism industry exports dove 51%, and annualized diamond exports dropped 43%.
The Central Bureau of Statistics noted that there has been a relatively high level of irregularities in economic statistics on Israel is recent years, and, therefore, should be analyzed over longer time periods.
