25,000 Israeli businesses could close as a result of coronavirus crisis — forecast

Israeli information services company CofaceBDI warns that some 25,000 businesses in Israel could be forced to close down by the end of the year as a result of the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic.

CofaceBDI forecast that the closures would come in two waves, the first of which would be felt in the coming weeks, Channel 12 news reports.

Business in sectors already reeling from the shuttering of large swaths of the economy, such as tourism, travel and leisure, would be among the first to close, the company says. It also includes in the first wave retailers that don’t sell food or do online deliveries, wholesalers and companies that are export dependent.

The second wave will include companies involved in real estate and industry, according to CofaceBDI.

“Effectively the second wave is influenced both by the collapse [of businesses] in the first wave and the decline in the public’s purchasing power, the number of unemployed, faulty transfer of payments, etc.,” the firm’s CEO Eyal Yanai tells Channel 12.