Israeli economy grew 8.1% last year, outdoing predictions

The economy grew 8.1% last year, the Central Bureau of Statistics says, well above the Bank of Israel’s forecast of 6.5% and a sharp rebound from a 2.2% contraction in 2020.

According to the data, the fourth fiscal quarter of 2021 saw a staggering 16.6% growth in GDP, bringing the yearly average to 8.1%, the highest since 2000, when Israel’s growth rate stood at 8.4%.

Finance Minister Avigdor Liberman was quick to take credit for the impressive figures, touting the government’s policy of keeping Israel’s economy as open as possible during the pandemic.

“The policy I’ve promoted of ‘living alongside the coronavirus’ with no lockdowns, no unpaid vacations, and passing a revolutionary [state] budget, have allowed us to break records and surpass all forecasts – leading the State of Israel to the first place in growth among Western countries,” Liberman tweets.