From the Liveblog of
Sunday, September 8, 2024
Finance Ministry lowers growth outlook for 2024/2025 amid sharper-than-expected slowdown
Sharon Wrobel is a tech reporter for The Times of Israel.
The Finance Ministry lowers its growth outlook for this year and next year, citing the sharper-than-expected slowdown in the war-battered economy in the second quarter of the year.
The Finance Ministry’s chief economist revises the Treasury’s growth projections ahead of the preparations and discussions of the 2025 state budget. The Treasury says it now expects the economy to expand by 1.1 percent in 2024 and 4.4% in 2025. That is down from a previous growth forecast of 1.9% for 2024 and 4.6% for 2025.
In July, the Bank of Israel cut its growth forecast to 1.5% in 2024, and 4.2% in 2025. That was down from a previous growth forecast in April of 2% in 2024 and 5% in 2025.
Figures released by the Central Bureau of Statistics in August showed that the economy grew at a slower pace in the second quarter of the year, falling short of economists’ forecasts, as the fallout from the war hit exports and investments. Gross domestic product (GDP) grew at an annualized 1.2% in the April to June period from the previous three months and was down 1.4% in comparison to the corresponding quarter last year.
