Economy of Israel

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State of Israel ( מדינת ישראל / دولة إسرائيل)
IsraelIsrael
World economic rank 36.
currency New Israeli Shekel (ILS)
Trade
organizations 		AIIB , BIS , EBRD , IADB , ICC , ISO , ITUC , OECD , UN , WCO , WFTU , WTO .
Key figures
Gross domestic
product (GDP) 		Nominal: US $ 290.643 billion (2014),
PPP : US $ 305.707 billion (2014)
GDP per capita 38,004 US $ (nominal, 2014)
growth 3.3% (2013)
inflation rate 0.5% (2018)
Employed 3.881 million (2018)
Unemployment rate 3.9% (April 2018)
Foreign trade
Export goods High-tech products (including aerospace, communications, telecommunications equipment, computer hardware and software, computer-aided design, medical electronics), pharmaceuticals, potash and phosphates, metal products, chemicals, plastics, diamonds, petroleum, natural gas, textiles.
Export partner United StatesUnited States United States 27.8% Hong Kong 7.7% United Kingdom 5.7% Belgium 4.6% People's Republic of China 4.3%
Hong KongHong Kong 
United KingdomUnited Kingdom 
BelgiumBelgium 
China People's RepublicPeople's Republic of China 
Import goods Raw materials, military and defense systems, aircraft parts, automobiles, consumer electronics, capital goods, machines, rough diamonds, petroleum, fuels, grain and wheat.
Import partner United StatesUnited States United States 12.9% People's Republic of China 7.3% Germany 6.3% Switzerland 5.5% Belgium 4.8%
China People's RepublicPeople's Republic of China 
GermanyGermany 
SwitzerlandSwitzerland 
BelgiumBelgium 
public finances
Public debt 151.3 billion US $ (2009)
Government revenue 58.6 billion US $ (2009)
Government spending US $ 46 billion (2009)

The economy of the State of Israel is a technologically very advanced economy with a state share of 40%. In terms of gross domestic product , it was ranked 36th worldwide in 2014.

General

Israel is a highly developed industrial state and a member of the OECD . It has the highest standard of living in the Middle East and the fifth highest in Asia.

The most important employer is the public sector , which employs 33% of Israeli workers . 17% work in industry, 20% in tourism, trade and finance; 28% work in other areas (services, etc.).

In 2016, Israel was ranked 19th out of 188 countries in the Human Development Index and belongs to the category of “very highly developed countries”.

In some branches of the economy (especially military , finance and technology ) Israel is a world leader.

In the Global Competitiveness Index , which measures a country's competitiveness, Israel ranks 16th out of 137 countries (2017-2018).

In 2018, Israel ranks 31st out of 180 countries in the Economic Freedom Index .

Economic data

Economic history

Before the founding of the state

The history of the Israeli economy begins even before the first wave of immigration in the 1880s.

In 1857, the London-based Jew Sir Moses Montefiore built an 18-meter-high windmill with a small settlement of 20 houses outside the city walls of Jerusalem , thus creating an important livelihood for the Jewish population. This settlement is located in what is now the Mishkenot Sha'ananim district of Jerusalem . The mill gave work to the residents of the settlement and made the Jewish residents of Jerusalem more independent.

In 1870, on the initiative of Charles Netters, the Mikveh Israel , the oldest Jewish agricultural school in Palestine, was founded.

Economic development before and between the world wars received a substantial boost. During this time, the first pre-state economic and social structures emerged. Collective, cooperative and communal enterprises and institutions played a major role in accordance with the socialist-Zionist ideology . They mainly existed in the agricultural and industrial enterprises of the kibbutzim , the agricultural moshavim and the transport cooperatives. At that time, the course was set for a strongly interventionist economic structure.

In 1930, the Palestine Potash Company , founded by Mose Nowomeisky , began extracting potash salt from the northern Dead Sea . In 1931 the Palestine Cooperation opened the King David Hotel in Jerusalem by Sir Robert Waley Cohen , who came from an English-Jewish family . In 1935, the state-illegitimate Exchange Bureau for Securities was founded by the Anglo-Palestine Bank together with other banks and brokers, which in 1953 became the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange , the Israeli Stock Exchange .

Up until the mid-1930s, Jewish and Arab economic structures were linked. It was not until the Arab call to boycott the Jewish economy in 1936 that the Yishuv , the Jewish residents of the British mandate in Palestine , was forced to develop independent structures.

After the founding of the state

At the time of the Independence, the country was in a difficult economic situation; the economy faced an extraordinarily large number of obstacles:

  • A perforated national territory bounded by front lines, far removed from the world's economic centers,
  • a pronounced lack of fertile arable land, water, mineral resources and fossil fuels,
  • a small population opposed to the establishment of a mass-produced industry,
  • the economic blockade of neighboring Arab states, which prevented trade relations in the region,
  • a transport infrastructure that did not correspond to the population distribution of the new state,
  • a traditionally high trade deficit, consequently a high dependence on foreign capital,
  • a sustained high capital requirement for the development of their own industry, but also for accommodation, supply and retraining of new immigrants,
  • the unresolved conflict with neighboring countries and the burden on the economy from high defense spending.

With the founding of the state, the leaderships of the Zionist parties saw the opportunity to establish a viable Jewish state with the knowledge and ideas of the Jewish immigrants from the diaspora. It was not just Theodor Herzl's ideas from his books " The Jewish State " and " Old New Land " that should characterize the economy of the Jewish state, but rather the ideas of that time strongest political current, resulting in the Socialist party Mapai under David Ben-Gurion collected. This represented the concept of Mamlachtijut (Hebrew for statehood). In consensus with the other political currents, they pursued the goal of building a modern economic system with regulating state interventionism and cooperative structures, but also with protected private property and entrepreneurship.

After the declaration of independence, Israel found itself in very difficult economic circumstances. The country had no significant deposits of raw materials and was an agricultural state without any significant or interrupted infrastructure. After winning the war of independence against the states of Egypt , Syria , Transjordan , Saudi Arabia and Lebanon , Israel was surrounded by hostile countries. The boycott of Israel by the Arab League extended not only to the newly established state, but was also applied to non-Israeli companies that wanted to trade in Israel.

The economic development after the founding of the state had mainly to do with the four big problem areas in order to meet the requirements of a modern state: the maintenance of national security, which cost up to 25% of the gross domestic product, the integration of a large number of immigrants, the creation a modern infrastructure and the establishment of a public administration.

Israel's economic development can be divided into four major periods: 1948 to 1967 was characterized by the establishment, consolidation and rapid growth of the economy. In the second phase from 1967 to 1989 an expansion and relocation of Israeli economic structures as well as massive inflation were decisive. In the third period from 1989 to 2005 there was a structural and system change oriented towards globalization with economic growth based on the technology sector, but also a deep economic crisis. The fourth phase since 2006 is characterized by the establishment as a high-tech nation, but also by social tensions.

From rationing to development economics (1948–1967)

Until 1952, the Israeli economy had two main tasks to fulfill: on the one hand, supplying the population with basic goods and the institutionalization of its own economic system . In view of the Palestine War of 1948/49 and its consequences and the more than 700,000 new immigrants who came to Israel in 1948–1951, the government initially worked according to an emergency program. With a new economic policy since February 1952, the government reduced rationing and price controls, but continued to determine the direction of economic development. The focus was on the expansion of agriculture and construction to supply the growing population with food and housing. Foreign trade was boosted by a sharp devaluation of the Israeli pound, which lost half of its value against the dollar .

In the early years, Israel received economic aid from the Soviet Union and Poland .

After the Israeli government had forged close ties with the United States in the Korean War from 1950 to 1953, it also followed the socialist tendencies preferred at the beginning less strongly. Foreign direct investment was subsidized by the state and legally protected by the Investment Promotion Act of 1959. These measures led to an economic upswing.

On September 10, 1952, Israel and the Federal Republic of Germany signed the Luxembourg Agreement , in which the Federal Republic undertook to provide Israel with a total of three billion German marks as compensation for the victims of the Shoah . Starting in 1955, Israel was able to access this money in the form of goods, services and fiscal transfers for twelve years. The aid made up a large part of Israeli income and reduced the substantial foreign trade deficit.

With the Suez Crisis in 1954, France and the United Kingdom also supported the country.

Starting in 1956, Israel also received economic support from the United States and Canada . In addition, there were private donations from American Jews. The proceeds from these sources were mainly used for the rapid industrialization of the country. New roads were built, cities were modernized, agriculture promoted, desalination plants built and the Israeli Defense Forces modernized.

After the basic supply was secured, the production base has now been expanded in accordance with government regulations, particularly in industry and in the service sector. The expansion of the infrastructure was particularly necessary. During this time, new businesses emerged, especially in the state sector, in which a significant proportion of the new immigrants found employment. In contrast, small businesses emerged in the private sector. Growing demand stimulated the economy. The gross national product grew by an average of ten percent annually between 1955 and 1965, while unemployment fell from 7.2 to 3.6 percent in the same period. The textile , food , building materials and electrical industries, as well as the grinding of raw diamonds , experienced a particularly rapid upswing .

Since then, Israel has largely ceased to be dependent on food imports. The textile industry became the second largest industrial sector in the country after the food industry.

The government protected domestic production, on the one hand through import substitutions and on the other hand through export subsidies, which was intended to reduce the permanent foreign trade and balance of payments deficit. This growth phase was followed by a phase of stagnation with only slight growth (1967: 0.2%, 1968: 2.2%) and an increase in unemployment (1967: 10.4%).

Extensification of economic structures (1967–1984)

The six-day war between Israel and its Arab neighbors in 1967 gave the country a new impetus for growth. The territories conquered by the Israelis gave access to additional resources. There was much-needed water for agriculture in the Golan Heights . The West Bank offered new cultivation opportunities for various plants and trees, and there was a small gas field off the Gaza Strip . Israel gradually expanded its market relations to the occupied territories. The sales market for Israeli products increased, as did the available production factors. Palestinian workers became temporarily indispensable in the economic sectors of agriculture, construction and services, and especially gastronomy in Israel. The number of registered Palestinian daily workers in Israel was already 20,600 in 1970 and rose to 110,000 at the beginning of the first Intifada in 1987. Israeli entrepreneurs gradually outsourced individual production stages to Palestinian subcontractors, especially in the textile industry and leather processing.

The Israeli government promoted the expansion of the defense industrial base after France imposed an arms embargo on the Israeli state on June 2, 1967, just before the outbreak of the Six Day War. As a result, Israel lost its most important supplier of armaments, especially for the air force. In order to compensate for the numerical superiority of the Arab states and to reduce the dependency on external suppliers for strategically important branches of arms, in-house developments have been initiated that extend to large equipment such as tanks ( Magach , Tiran and Merkava ) and aircraft ( IAI Kfir , IAI Nescher ) as well as to high-performance systems v. a. in optoelectronics were sufficient for monitoring and locating. Israel intensified further development in order to achieve technological superiority after the surprise attack by the Arab states in 1973 .

But Israel's economic situation stalled again in the Yom Kippur War in October 1973 for the first time since the 1950s. The Egyptian surprise attack hit the unprepared country with full force and the efforts to repel the invasion were greater than expected.

The subsequent oil crisis in the autumn of 1973, caused by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), brought the Israeli infrastructure to a standstill and led to a rethinking, among other things, the focus was now increasingly on oil from Iran under Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and on nuclear energy .

The arms industry became the main export sector in the 1970s. With the expansion of the arms industry, new employment opportunities arose in companies that were previously financed by the state and quickly developed into large-scale companies. The share of people employed in the traditional industries of textiles and clothing, food and leather goods fell from 38.4 to 32.2% between 1965 and 1983, and the share of value added in these industries from 32.1 to 20.4%. In contrast, a total of 25.5% of all industrial employees worked in metalworking, electronics and electrical engineering as well as in the chemical goods industry in 1965 and 37.5% in 1983 and generated 26.7% (1965) and 46% (1983) of industrial value added.

The scope and diversification of foreign trade grew along with the range of goods. In 1960 exports covered only 42.5% of imports, in 1970 it was already 51.2% and in 1980 it was 67.4%. In 1975 the European Economic Community concluded a free trade agreement with Israel as the first non-European state. Since then, around a third of Israel's foreign trade has been carried out annually in the neighboring region, which has become the most important market for Israeli goods and services. In 1985, the US government also signed a free trade agreement with Israel. This gave Israel a unique selling point in the transatlantic relationship.

The government , led by the conservative-national Likud from 1977 onwards, did not completely turn away from the previous economic policy, but it relied more on liberal approaches. In the mid-1980s, the economy stagnated and inflation exploded. In the course of the global political upheaval, the international arms market collapsed. Increased world market prices for raw materials, the outflow of productively usable resources due to persistently high costs for the military and armaments, subsidies for settlement policy in the occupied territories and the subsidization of unprofitable production capacities increased the Israeli deficit.

In 1979 the Islamic Revolution broke off relations with Iran, previously an oil supplier and trading partner of Israel. However, with the conclusion of peace with Egypt in the same year, economic cooperation began with Egypt. Long-term gas supply contracts have been in place with Egypt since 1985.

In 1983 there was a stock crisis in which the largest banks in the country were nationalized. In 1984 inflation reached a catastrophic peak of 450%.

Stabilization Program (1985)

The economic stabilization program initiated in 1985 to combat inflation included a currency reform on the one hand . On September 4, 1985, the New Israeli Shekel (NIS) was introduced and replaced the old Shekel in the ratio of 1: 1000. This had only replaced the Israeli pound in a ratio of 1:10 on February 24, 1980 . In addition, concerted action by the government, employers' associations and the Histadrut resulted in a price freeze , lower real wages and a restrictive budget policy . The stabilization program ushered in a turning point: in 1987 the inflation rate was only 20 percent.

The government also decided on a course of liberalization , market opening and privatization of state-owned companies. Competition has been introduced in the telecommunications, electricity, port operations, fuel market and public transport sectors , while subsidies have been restricted to public transport and agriculture. Thus began a process of deregulation in order to reduce the direct involvement of the state in the economy. In doing so, she introduced a further modification in the traditional Zionist conception of Israel's economic policy orientation.

The changes that were initiated revitalized the economy and paved the way for rapid growth in the 1990s. The realignment of economic policy marked the beginning of the rise of Israel.

Integration into the world economy (1986-2005)

After 1985, the Israeli economy was increasingly exposed to the forces of the world market. The import tariffs were reduced from 40% to eight to twelve percent in 1998 and thus reached the level of developed industrial nations.

With the regulated opening, Israel pursued the change to a capitalist economic system and integration into the world economy. All Zionist parties were oriented towards the capitalist market economy, but differed in their views on the speed and conditions of privatization, as well as the extent of state tasks, including in the social field.

Two points have favored economic development. The new wave of immigration from the states of the former Soviet Union put great pressure on the government's liberalization policy. With the so-called Ostalia, around one million immigrants came to Israel between 1989 and 2010. They increased domestic demand and particularly stimulated the construction industry. The construction of around 10,000 new residential units began in the second half of 1989; in the first half of 1991 there were already around 40,000, of which three quarters were in the public sector and only a quarter in private housing. The high proportion of immigrant academics was important for further economic development. Between 1989 and 1991 alone, more than 40% of the new immigrants from the Soviet Union were humanities scholars, engineers, artists, and doctors; a further 35% were employed in technical and technically relevant occupations. In joint funding programs from government and business, they represented significant input, especially for the knowledge-intensive areas of the New Economy .

On the other hand, advances in the Middle East settlement process , such as the Israeli-Jordanian peace treaty and the 1991 Madrid Conference , further weakened the Arab boycott , making it easier for Israeli entrepreneurs to penetrate new markets in Eastern Europe, Africa and Asia. The international creditworthiness of Israel as a location rose and domestic companies became a lucrative investment market, whether they were owned by the state, the Histadrut union or the private sector. Foreign direct investment rose from just $ 129 million in 1990 to $ 2.3 billion in 1999, and even to $ 13.4 billion in 2006. Local owners are pulling the capitalization of their companies from the relatively small financial market of Israel to the world market.

High technology has become an important branch of the economy. While productivity fell in traditional areas such as construction by two percent in the 1990s, that of high technology rose by five percent annually. It also boosted exports, more than three quarters of which now consist of high-tech products. According to the International Monetary Fund, Israel has ceased to be a developing country since 1997 .

After the extensive growth of the high-tech industry, the economy collapsed with the crash on NASDAQ in March 2000 , where 75 Israeli companies were listed, and the outbreak of the second Intifada . The intifada, which lasted from September 2000 to February 2005, caused Israel to lose billions of dollars in tourism alone . Five years of the deepest crisis followed before the economy recovered.

A recovery came from the development of new markets in the technology sector. By immigration from the former Soviet Union were scientists and academics into the country that are relevant to Israel's future of considerable value. At the same time, after the end of the Cold War, new markets opened up and ensured rapid growth. Since then, Israeli companies have been at the forefront of this industry worldwide and invest more money per capita in research and development than companies in any other country.

Start-up nation (since 2006)

Israel has made a transition from a labor-intensive to a knowledge-intensive economy. At the beginning of the new millennium , the high-tech sector accounts for a quarter of industrial production and around 80% of exports. In a certain way, Israel's economic development has skipped the 20th century, which means that the classic pillars of other industrial nations such as automobile production, mechanical engineering , chemical industry and heavy industry are missing. The high-tech sector is an extremely flexible branch of the economy with rapidly changing requirements, which has an impact on the labor market in particular. Extremely high flexibility is expected of the employees in this branch. Associated with this is a considerable decline in agriculture, with a specialization in selected niche products and high-quality individual products as well as new breeds. Numerous areas of traditional branches have been relocated to surrounding neighboring Arab states, Turkey and Asia. The privatization process of state-owned and Histadrut-owned companies was continued and now mainly affected large companies, some of which had monopoly positions in their area, and thus also many employees.

Structural change and the rapid opening of the economy are changing society. The labor market has so far been an essential tool for social integration. With the privatization of companies, the opening up to foreign non-Palestinian workers and the expansion of the low-wage sector, the traditional and closed structures of the internal labor market were broken up. For 2007, the government had issued around 90,000 permits for foreign wage workers, mainly from South Asia and Southeast Europe; unofficially, there are said to be more than twice as many migrant workers in Israel. More and more employees are no longer employed on a permanent basis, but work on a project or temporary basis. The required flexibility and individualization benefit the well-trained specialists. The offer and the differentiation of employment were expanded, new and modern jobs were created primarily in the private sector and the value of local specialists increased through new fields of activity.

The high economic growth went hand in hand with a decline in unemployment from 7.3% in 2001 to 4.3% in 2017. In July 2017, the lowest unemployment rate in 40 years was reached.

For the first time ever, Israel exported more than it imported in 2006, and in the same year economic growth was 5.1%. Since then, the inflation rate has been low, and the government's budget deficit and external debt have also been reduced.

Due to globalization and the lower corporate taxes compared to Western countries, more and more foreign companies are setting up branches in Israel. This collaboration often relies on a mixture of Israeli innovation and widespread foreign production and market penetration. Joint projects began mainly in the following areas: electronics, software, medical equipment, printing and computer graphics.

In May 2010, Israel joined the OECD .

On June 30, 2014, the Israeli cabinet decided to allow the employment of up to 1,500 Jordanians in the hotel industry in Eilat. With the sale of minority shares of up to 49% in various state-owned companies over the next three years, decided on October 5, 2014, the state budget is to be further stabilized. State-owned companies such as electricity companies, the water supply company, the railway company and the post office are affected. Some business areas of Israel Military Industries are also to be outsourced. The sale is to take place on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange and is expected to generate revenues of 15 billion shekels (about 3.2 billion euros). This step is also intended to reduce the politicization of companies and at the same time counteract possible corruption.

The rating agency Standard & Poor's has on August 3, 2018 Israel's credit rating to AA-, the best-ever rating upgraded. In January 2019, Israel signed its 9th free trade agreement with Ukraine . On January 29, 2019, it was announced that Intel plans to invest a further 9.5 billion euros in its chip factory in Kiryat Gat, thereby creating thousands of new jobs.

outlook

Israel is striving to break out of its economic isolation in the Middle East and attract international investment. It still sees its future in high technology and its export. With a third each, the US and the EU will be the main trading partners, followed by Asia. India will remain one of the closest partners in particular in defense industry cooperation. New products from Israeli technology development are now being sold worldwide. But there is also demand for companies whose specialists have become “development departments” for foreign, primarily US companies. In the future, the research capacity, as in biotechnology, could be expanded even further through further international cooperation.

Israel is now integrated into the global economy; however, regional cooperation remains selective and limited to selected branches and states. Ultimately, Israel's economy remains subject to the assessments of the global market, but geographically located in the Middle East - and has to take into account the changed global political and global economic framework.

Economic sectors

Primary economic sector

Agriculture

Agriculture in Kibbutz Ketura in the Negev desert .

Although Israel largely consists of desert, it has become a major agricultural producer. Because researchers have turned the climatic disadvantages into a location advantage. So the drip irrigation was developed and farm animals and plants bred that bring higher yields.

However, the share of agriculture is only 2.8% of the national GDP (2008). About 2.6% of Israeli residents are employed in agricultural production and 6.3% in agricultural services. While agriculture generated up to 60 percent of total exports in the 1950s and 1960s, its share has been just under three percent since the turn of the millennium.

The main agricultural product is grain , which is grown in 80% of all fields. Other agricultural products are citrus fruits (especially lemons and the Jaffa oranges ). The citrus fruit was the first Israeli export hit. Even before the founding of the state, Jaffa oranges were transported from the port of Jaffa to Europe by ship and quickly became a trademark of the young country.

In addition, Israel is one of the world's leading greenhouse vegetable exporters with 2013 sales of US $ 1.3 billion. Also, cut flowers mainly exported to Europe.

Mining

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Israel is heavily dependent on imports for fossil fuels (crude oil, natural gas, coal) and raw materials . There are small amounts of petroleum , phosphates , potash salt and kaolin in the country . Large gold deposits are suspected.

Energy resources

Until the discovery of its significant offshore natural gas, Israel had essentially no commercial fossil fuel resources of its own and was forced to rely almost exclusively on imports. Israel has tried to diversify its sources of supply and use alternatives such as solar and wind energy. Israel has long-term supply contracts with nations like Mexico (oil), Norway (oil), Great Britain (oil), Australia (coal), South Africa (coal) and Colombia (coal).

In 2017, Israel obtained 71 percent of its energy from natural gas, 27 percent from coal and 2 percent from renewable energies.

On February 28, 2019, the Ministry of Energy published plans that Israel's industry would only use natural gas and renewable energy by 2030.

oil

Israel only produced less than 1,000 barrels a day until the turn of the millennium and imported almost all of its oil needs. In August 1996, oil was discovered near Arad and produced at around 600 barrels per day. In Israel, 5 billion barrels of oil reserves are suspected, which are said to be among the gas reserves, further deposits are suspected in the Golan. Geologically, Israel appears to be linked to the petroleum system that stretches from Saudi Arabia through Iraq to Syria. Israel has one main operating oil pipeline, the Tipline, which runs from Eilat to Haifa via the Mediterranean port of Ashkelon .

natural gas

Until 2004, Israel relied mainly on imports for gas supplies. At the end of March 2004, Mari-B, the first Israeli offshore gas field, went into operation. As of 2008, Israel obtained 40% of its natural gas needs from Egypt. Due to delivery unreliability after the Arab Spring in Egypt, the contract was canceled in 2012 and the Hadera floating LNG terminal was built as a replacement within a short period of time . This allows Israel to import up to 2.5 billion cubic meters of LNG per year. In the exclusive economic zone of Israel in the Mediterranean several large natural gas fields have been discovered since in 2009. The Tamar gas field has been supplying Israeli demand since April 2013 .

coal

Israel meets around 30% of its energy needs from coal, which is mainly used to generate electricity. It has to import all of its needs. The National Coal Supply Corporation (NCSC) was founded in 1981 and is solely responsible for securing the country's coal imports. In 2001 about 10 million tons of coal were imported, of which about 47% came from South Africa, 21% from Colombia, and 16% each from Australia and Indonesia (16%).

water

Even before the state of Israel was founded, the country had to deal with a shortage of drinking water. The Mekorot company was founded on January 31, 1937 to provide drinking water

Especially when a long and severe drought aggravated the water shortage at the end of the 1990s, the state began to deal with the water shortage with three strategies: increasing the use of drip irrigation instead of sprinkler systems in the fields, seawater desalination and recycling of wastewater. In 2015, 75 percent of the wastewater was reused.

Seawater desalination

The beginnings of large-scale desalination of seawater in Israel go back to the year 2000. At that time, the government initiated a plan to forestall water shortages with desalination plants along the Mediterranean coast. The reason for this was a period of drought. Other cornerstones of the plan were the consistent reprocessing of wastewater, the efficient use of water in agriculture (expansion of drip irrigation ) and industry, careful use by the population and the avoidance of water loss through leaky pipes are the key cornerstones of this comprehensive strategy.

Since 2016, the Israelis have been getting 70 percent of their home consumption from desalination plants. In June 2018, it was decided to put two more plants into operation. With the sixth system, the second in Sorek, the proportion of desalinated seawater will increase to 85 percent of home consumption.

Location Installation Output (in million m³) technology
Ashkelon 2005 118 Reverse osmosis
Palmachim 2007 90 Reverse osmosis
Hadera 2009 127 Reverse osmosis
Sorek 2013 150 Reverse osmosis
Ashdod 2015 100 Reverse osmosis
Sorek II Scheduled for 2023 Reverse osmosis

Industry

Industrial buildings near Tel Aviv-Jaffa

The most important areas are metal processing, electronics, medical technology, food processing, chemical industry and transport equipment . The Israeli diamond industry is one of the world's centers for diamond cutting and polishing. Israel is a world leader in software , telecommunications and semiconductor development. The innovative Israeli startup scene in the field of cutting-edge technologies is considered exemplary worldwide.

Chemical industry

Ramat Hovav industrial plant

Israel has a well-developed chemical industry with many of its products on the export market. Chemical plants are located in Ramat Hovav , Haifa and the Dead Sea area . Many Israeli companies hold top positions in the world market and produce, among other things, magnesium chloride , industrial salts , deicers, bath salts , table salt and raw materials for the cosmetics industry. With around 40,000 employees (as of 2011), Teva Pharmaceutical Industries , one of the world's largest pharmaceutical companies, is the largest company in the country in this area. It is the largest generic drug company in the world and one of the 15 largest pharmaceutical companies in the world.

Defense industry

Israel is one of the world's largest exporters of armaments. The productions of several Israeli companies accounted for 10% of the global arms trade in 2007. According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute , the three Israeli companies Elbit Systems , Israel Aerospace Industries and RAFAEL were among the world's top 100 arms manufacturers and military service companies in 2010 . Today the defense industry is a strategically important sector and a major employer in the country. It is also a major player in the global arms market and has been the eleventh largest arms exporter in the world since 2012. There are more than 150 active companies in this sector. In 2012, defense exports peaked at $ 7 billion. Much of the exports went to the United States and Europe. But more and more countries in Southeast Asia and Latin America are showing their interest in Israeli products. Along with the United States, Israel is one of the leading countries in the production and sale of drones . Israel exported 41% of all drones from 2001 to 2011.

Diamond industry

Israel is a world leader in diamond trading and processing, with the rough diamonds being imported and cut in Israel. The Israeli Diamond Exchange is the largest trading center for diamonds in the world.

The Israeli diamond industry ranks third in the world after Belgium and India . The largest importer of Israeli diamonds is the United States with 36%, followed by Hong Kong with 28% and the euro zone.

Power generation

Solar industry

Solar systems in Jerusalem

Solar energy in Israel and the country's solar industry have a history that goes back to the very beginning of the country. In the 1950s, Levi Yissar developed a solar collector for producing hot water. In 1967 around one in 20 households was heated with solar and water energy. During the 1973 oil crisis, Harry Zvi Tabor , the father of the Israeli solar industry, developed a solar collector that is now used in over 90% of Israeli households.

Israel is the world leader in solar thermal power plants . Several large solar thermal power plants have been built in the Negev desert.

Services

The service sector employs over 40% of all Israeli workers.

Trade and finance

Bank of Israel logo

In Israel's service sector, the financial sector and trade play an important role. This has its roots in the Zionist movement at the beginning of the 20th century before the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948. The World Zionist Organization founded the Anglo-Palestine Bank (later renamed Bank Leumi ) in 1903 . The country's two largest banks control more than 60% of the banking industry and the first five control over 90%.

Most banks were nationalized during the 1980s. Some of these large banks have been privatized again since the 1990s. Bank Hapoalim was privatized in 1996, Bank Mizrahi (now Bank Mizrahi-Tfahot ) in 1998, Israel Discount Bank in 2006, and Bank Leumi in 2005.

In September 2019, the Israeli central bank authorized the businessman Marius Nacht, co-founder of the software company Check Point, and Amnon Schaschua, founder of Mobileye, the world market leader for accident prevention systems, to create a new bank. It is the first time in more than four decades that such a license has been granted. As a concept, the two businessmen envision a direct bank that does without branches. The focus should be on private households and the bank should start operations in one and a half years.

King David Hotel in Jerusalem

Today around 20% of Israeli workers are employed in this sector.

tourism

Tourism is one of Israel's main sources of income and is a growth engine of the country's economy. In 2019 alone, 4.55 million foreign tourists visited the country and hit an all-time high.

Israel offers an abundance of historical and religious sites, geographical diversity, and luxurious beach resorts.

High technology

Weizmann Institute for Science , Rehovot

Science and technology are the most developed and industrialized sectors in Israel in the country. The proportion of the total population employed in the science and technology sector is among the highest in the world. Israel ranks fourth in terms of percentage of scientific activities, measured by the number of scientific publications per million population. The country also has the highest number of scientists, technicians and engineers per capita in the world, with 140 per 10,000 employees. For comparison: the USA has 85, Japan 83 and Germany 60.

Worldwide, Israeli scientists have contributed to advances in various industries such as natural sciences , agricultural sciences , computer science , electronics , genetics , medicine , optics , solar energy, and in various areas of engineering:

Grand Challenges Award

The Grand Challenges Award is jointly presented by the Israeli Ministry of Economic Affairs, the development aid organization MASHAV and the Office of the Prime Minister. It promotes technological and innovative solutions by Israeli companies and research institutions that contribute to global health and food security in developing countries. The award is based on a comparable sponsorship award from the Canadian government.

Economic data

The official unemployment rate in Israel was:

Unemployment rate in%
10.4%
4.8%
4.6%
6.7%
6.4%
9.6%
10.0%
6.9%
10.7%
10.9%
13.4%
11.2%
7.7%
8.3%
6.3%
5.3%
4.8%
4.2%
4.0%
1967 1980 1983 1985 1988 1990 1993 1995 1998 2000 2003 2005 2008 2010 2013 2015 2016 2017 2018










Sources: 1967:, 1980–2018:

year 1980 1983 1985 1988 1990 1993 1995 1998 2000 2003 2005 2008 2010 2013 2015 2016 2017
GDP 23.83 30.19 26.56 48.38 58.08 74.00 100.34 115.98 132.34 126.86 142.46 215.84 233.61 292.49 299.09 317.75 350.61
GDP per capita 6081 7355 6278 10,898 12,470 14,070 18,107 19,436 21,053 18972 20,567 29,541 30,654 36,307 35,705 37.192 40,258
inflation rate 316.6 120.4 304.6 16.2 17.2 10.9 10.0 5.4 1.1 0.7 1.3 4.6 2.7 1.5 −0.6 −0.5 0.2
growth 3.6 2.6 4.5 3.6 6.6 3.8 9.7 4.2 8.8 1.1 4.1 3.0 5.5 4.2 2.6 4.0 3.5
Current account −0.9 −2.4 1.0 −0.8 0.2 −2.5 −5.0 −1.2 −2.0 0.8 4.4 2.1 8.5 9.0 14.8 11.2 10.4
National debt k. a. k. a. k. a. k. a. k. a. k. a. k. a. k. a. 79.6 92.8 88.2 71.9 70.7 67.1 64.2, 62.3 60.4
year 2018
GDP 369.84
GDP per capita 41,644
inflation rate 0.8
growth 3.3
Current account 7.0
National debt 59.6

Explanations: gross domestic product in billions of US dollars, GDP per capita in dollars, inflation rate in%, real GDP growth in%, current account balance in billions of US dollars, general government gross debt in% of GDP
Source:

Foreign trade

General

The United States is Israel's largest trading partner, and Israel was the United States' 26th largest trading partner in 1997. The main US exports to Israel are computers, integrated circuits, aircraft parts and other armaments, wheat and automobiles. Israeli exports to the United States are primarily jewelry, integrated circuits, printing machines, and telecommunications equipment. The two countries signed a free trade agreement in 1985 . An agricultural trade agreement was signed in November 1996. But Israel has also signed trade and cooperation agreements with the European Union and Canada, Turkey, Jordan and several countries from Eastern Europe.

From a regional perspective, the European Union is the largest importer of Israeli products. Between October 2011 and January 2012 alone, Israel exported goods worth 5 billion euros to the EU.

Until 1995, Israel's trade with the Arab world was minimal due to the centrally organized boycott by the Arab League . To this day, diplomatic and economic relations with most of the Arab states are strained and business deals often have to be conducted clandestinely. Nevertheless, Israel's most important trading partners in the Arab region are Jordan, Egypt, Morocco and the Palestinian territories . So-called Qualifying Industrial Zones in Egypt and Jordan are used as production sites for Israeli goods, which according to a corresponding agreement can also be exported duty-free to the USA. For example, 20 Israeli companies were already active in Egypt in 1999, benefiting from the low wage costs there and entering into joint ventures with millions in contributions. The QIZs were not integrated into the participating economies, however, and the majority of the Arab population is still skeptical or even negative about normalizing conditions with Israel. The Egyptian gas deliveries to Israel worth 2.5 billion dollars annually are also an important part of the trade relations, as are cooperation agreements with Jordan, for example for the shared use of port infrastructures ( Aqaba / Eilat and Jordanian access to Haifa ) or for sustainable management of the Jordan. In addition, Turkey has long been an important trading partner among the Muslim countries.

In 2012 ten companies were responsible for 47.7% of Israeli exports. These companies were Intel , Elbit Systems , Teva , Iscar , ICL , Adama (Makhteshim Agan), Paz Oil Company , Oil Refineries Ltd., IAI and the Indigo Division of Hewlett-Packard .

In a report by the OECD working group against bribery, "Transparency International" (TI), which was published on September 12, 2018, only seven out of 44 industrialized countries, including Israel for the first time, certify that they are taking consistent action against corruption in export transactions.

FTA

Israel has concluded free trade agreements with the following countries: Bulgaria, Jordan, Canada, Mexico, Poland, Romania, Switzerland (in force since July 1, 1993), Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Turkey, Ukraine (ratified on July 11, 2019), Hungary and the USA.

The most important agreements are:

  • Israel-EU Free Trade Agreement : As part of this agreement, which was signed with the European Economic Community in July 1975 , Israel gradually reduced its import duties on industrial imports from the EU market until they were completely eliminated in January 1989. On November 20, 1995, a supplementary agreement was signed that relates to the reduction of tariffs on agricultural products from the EU.
  • Israel-US Free Trade Agreement: In April 1985, Israel and the United States signed an agreement to establish a free trade area. Under this agreement, the import duties between the two countries were gradually abolished until 31 December 1994.
  • Israel-EFTA free trade agreement: On January 1st, 1993 a free trade agreement between Israel and the EFTA was signed, as a result of which import duties on industrial goods were abolished with immediate effect.

Social problems

Despite its economic prosperity, Israel faces many challenges. Some are short term and some are long term.

The state drastically reduced public spending, particularly in the social field, in subsidies for basic foodstuffs, public transport and educational institutions. This has been expanded under the government of Benjamin Netanyahu since 2009. The government's goal is to keep the national debt within the Maastricht standard of the EU. The social gap widened to a point that has never been seen since the state was founded. Increased income and material individualization make the previously rather latent socio-economic differentiation more clearly visible and has increased social insecurity in broader sections of the population. The average monthly income has risen, but it is often not enough to meet the even faster rising cost of living. In 1982, the government enacted the Social Assistance Act. At that time, fewer than 10,000 households received this payment; In 2003 there were already 158,000 households. In 2008, the proportion of households in need was one fifth, in which 36% of all children lived. In July 2011, for these reasons, there were nationwide demonstrations for more social justice and an easing of the housing market.

The main problem is growing poverty among the population. In 2015 the income of almost 20 percent of Israeli households was below the poverty line. The income situation of Ashkenazim was on average better than that of Mizrahim or Arab Israelis . One reason for the growing poverty is the growing number of ultra-Orthodox Jews who have low levels of official labor force participation among the country's residents. These are prerequisites for growing unemployment and a higher dependency rate in the future. The Governor of the Bank of Israel , Stanley Fischer , said that the growing poverty shame of ultra-Orthodox Jews in the Israeli economy. According to a study published by Ian Fursman, 60% of poor households are made up of ultra-Orthodox Jews and Israeli Arabs . Both groups together make up around 25 to 28% of the Israeli population.

As part of the state renovation program TAMA 38 , extensive renovations or new buildings have been financially supported for several years. Under the catchphrase Pinui Binui ("clearance and (new) construction") old buildings are to be made earthquake-proof or replaced by new ones, for example . As a result, lower-income people can no longer afford to live in their previous residential areas. This gentrification is increasingly criticized by activists.

capital

According to a study by Bank Credit Suisse from 2017, Israel ranked 29th worldwide in terms of total national wealth . Total real estate, stocks, and cash holdings totaled $ 1,054 billion. Per adult it is 198,406 dollars on average and 78,244 dollars in median (in Germany: 203,946 and 47,091 dollars, respectively). Private wealth has almost tripled since 2000.

In total, 70.1% of the total wealth of the population was financial wealth and 29.9% was non-financial wealth. The Gini coefficient for wealth distribution was 74.1 in 2017, which indicates a relatively high level of wealth inequality. The top 10% of the Israeli population owned 64.5% of the property and the top 1% owned 36% of the property. A total of 22.3% of the population had personal wealth less than $ 10,000. In mid-2018 there were 18 billionaires in Israel.

literature

  • Ben-Porath, Yoram ed. The Israeli Economy: Maturing through Crises . Cambridge, MA : Harvard University Press, 1986.
  • Chill, Dan. The Arab Boycott of Israel: Economic Aggression and World Reaction . New York: Praeger, 1976.
  • Kanovsky, Eliyahu. The Economy of the Israeli Kibbutz . Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1966.
  • Little Michael. A Gemara of the Israel Economy . Cambridge, MA: National Bureau of Economic Research, 2005.
  • Michaely, Michael. Foreign Trade Regimes and Economic Development: Israel . New York: National Bureau of Economic Research, 1975.
  • Uri Ram: The Globalization of Israel: McWorld in Tel Aviv, Jihad in Jerusalem . Routledge, New York 2008, ISBN 0-415-95304-9 .
  • Senor, Dan and Singer, Saul , Start-up Nation : The Story of Israel's Economic Miracle , Hachette, New York (2009) ISBN 0-446-54146-X
  • Rubner, Alex. The Economy of Israel: A Critical Account of the First Ten Years . New York: Frederick A Praeger, 1960.
  • Maman, Daniel & Rosenhek, Zeev. The Israeli Central Bank: Political Economy: Global Logics & Local Actors . Routledge, 2011.
  • Nitzan, Jonathan & Bichler, Shimshon: The Global Political Economy of Israel , Pluto Press, 2002.

Web links

Commons : Economy of Israel  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

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