Economy - overview Israel has a technologically advanced market economy with substantial government participation. It depends on imports of crude oil, grains, raw materials, and military equipment. Despite limited natural resources, Israel has intensively developed its agricultural and industrial sectors over the past 20 years. Israel is largely self-sufficient in food production except for grains. Cut diamonds, high-technology equipment, and agricultural products (fruits and vegetables) are the leading exports. Israel usually posts sizable current account deficits, which are covered by large transfer payments from abroad and by foreign loans. Roughly half of the government's external debt is owed to the US, which is its major source of economic and military aid. The influx of Jewish immigrants from the former USSR during the period 1989-99 coupled with the opening of new markets at the end of the Cold War, energized Israel's economy, which grew rapidly in the early 1990s. But growth began moderating in 1996 when the government imposed tighter fiscal and monetary policies and the immigration bonus petered out. Growth was a strong 6.4% in 2000. But the outbreak of Palestinian unrest in late September 2000 and the declines in the high-technology and tourist sectors led to a 0.6% drop in GDP in 2001.

GDP purchasing power parity - $119 billion (2001 est.)

GDP - real growth rate -0.6% (2001 est.)

GDP - per capita purchasing power parity - $20,000 (2001 est.)

GDP - composition by sector
agriculture: 4%
industry: 37%
services: 59% (1999 est.)

Population below poverty line NA%

Household income or consumption by percentage share
lowest 10%: 2.8%
highest 10%: 26.9% (1992)

Distribution of family income - Gini index 35.5 (1992)

Inflation rate (consumer prices) 1.1% (2001 est.)

Labor force 2.4 million (2000 est.)

Labor force - by occupation public services 31.2%, manufacturing 20.2%, finance and business 13.1%, commerce 12.8%, construction 7.5%, personal and other services 6.4%, transport, storage, and communications 6.2%, agriculture, forestry, and fishing 2.6% (1996)

Unemployment rate 9% (2001 est.)

Budget
revenues: $40 billion
expenditures: $42.4 billion, including capital expenditures of $NA (2000 est.)

Industries high-technology projects (including aviation, communications, computer-aided design and manufactures, medical electronics), wood and paper products, potash and phosphates, food, beverages, and tobacco, caustic soda, cement, diamond cutting

Industrial production growth rate -4.5% (2001)

Electricity - production 38.876 billion kWh (2000)

Electricity - production by source
fossil fuel: 99.89%
hydro: 0.11%
other: 0% (2000)
nuclear: 0%

Electricity - consumption 34.897 billion kWh (2000)

Electricity - exports 1.27 billion kWh (2000)

Electricity - imports 12 million kWh (2000)

Agriculture - products citrus, vegetables, cotton; beef, poultry, dairy products

Exports $26.5 billion (f.o.b., 2001 est.)

Exports - commodities machinery and equipment, software, cut diamonds, agricultural products, chemicals, textiles and apparel

Exports - partners US 37.4%, Benelux 6%, Germany 4.8%, Hong Kong 4.4%, UK 4.3%, Netherlands 2.8% (2000)

Imports $30.6 billion (f.o.b., 2001 est.)

Imports - commodities raw materials, military equipment, investment goods, rough diamonds, fuels, consumer goods

Imports - partners US 17.8%, Benelux 10%, UK 7.6%, Germany 7.5%, Switzerland 5.4%, Italy 4.8% (2000)

Debt - external $42.8 billion (2001 est.)

Economic aid - recipient NA

Currency new Israeli shekel (ILS)

Currency code ILS

Exchange rates new Israeli shekels per US dollar - 4.2757 (December 2001), 4.2057 (2001), 4.0773 (2000), 4.1397 (1999), 3.8001 (1998), 3.4494 (1997)

Fiscal year calendar year

NOTE: The information regarding Israel on this page is re-published from the 2002 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Israel Economy 2002 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Israel Economy 2002 should be addressed to the CIA.