The Bank of Israel announced this week that its Composite State of the Economy Index for June 2018 increased three tenths of a percent. The average rate of increase in the first half of 2018 was the same as the average pace in 2017. The Index’s readings for previous months were revised slightly, so that they show a gradual acceleration since March.
The index was positively impacted in June by increases in consumer goods imports and in goods exports, and by the increase in retail trade and services revenue in May. In contrast, the decline in imports of manufacturing inputs in June and the decline in the Industrial Production index in May moderated the index’s rate of growth.