Bank of Israel Composite Index Rises 0.4% in August, Exceeding Trend
The Bank of Israel's composite index rose by 0.4% in August, pushing economic activity above its long-term growth trend, driven by higher imports and tax revenues.
The Bank of Israel's composite state-of-the-economy index recorded a 0.4% increase in August, reflecting average monthly growth between June and August, according to bank data released on Wednesday.
The data shows that this growth rate places economic activity above the long-term growth trend of approximately 0.3%. The rise was driven primarily by growth in consumer goods and production inputs imports, high VAT and indirect tax revenues in August, and positive second-quarter GDP figures.
Conversely, several parameters mitigated the increase, including a decline in credit card purchases, a reduction in goods and industrial exports, a drop in the retail trade index, a decrease in job vacancies and salaried employees, and declines in the Nasdaq 100 index during July.
Alongside the August data, the Bank of Israel slightly updated previous months' estimates following the receipt of more complete data: the July index was revised slightly downward, while the June estimate was revised slightly upward.
