Israel exhibited a strong rebound in economic activity during 2021, and projected a solid GDP growth for the country in the upcoming year, said the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development in a report published Wednesday.
The Economic Forecast Summary on Israel report said the state “is projected to grow robustly by 6.3 percent in 2021, 4.9 percent in 2022 and 4 percent in 2023.”
An earlier OECD report from May attributed Israel’s economic growth to the country’s “very high rate of inoculation.”
The report also anticipated “strong growth” in Israel’s technological exports, but warned the country’s economic “recovery could be slower if the COVID-19 pandemic situation deteriorates again, or the increase in inflation is stronger or more persistent than assumed in the projections.”
In order to financially strengthen the nation, the report also called on Israel to implement a series of reforms designed to encourage economic recovery.
The OECD report recommended a focus on “upskilling and education” to address high poverty rates among the country’s ultra-Orthodox and Arab Israeli communities, adding that income inequality in Israel exceeds that of most advanced economies.
Additionally, the report addressed a need for strong public transportation infrastructure, saying, "traffic congestion is a major problem in Israel.”
“Costs of congestion are estimated at around 2 percent of GDP, above levels in other high-income economies,” the report said.