ears.
Industry employs about 20% of Israeli workers, agriculture 5%, and services
most of the rest. Diamonds, high-technology equipment, and agricultural
products (fruits and vegetables) are leading exports. Israel usually posts
balance-of-payments deficits, which are covered by large transfer payments
from abroad and by foreign loans. Roughly half of the government's $17
billion external debt is owed to the United States, which is its major
source of economic and military aid. To earn needed foreign exchange, Israel
has been targeting high-technology niches in international markets, such as
medical scanning equipment. Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in August 1990 dealt a
blow to Israel's economy. Higher world oil prices added an estimated $300
million to the oil import bill that year and helped keep annual inflation at
18%. Regional tension and the continuing Palestinian uprising (intifadah)
have contributed to a sharp drop in tourism - a key foreign exchange earner
- to the lowest level since the 1973 Arab-Israeli war. The influx of Jewish
immigrants from the former USSR, which topped 330,000 during the period
1990-91, will increase unemployment, intensify housing problems, widen the
government budget deficit, and fuel inflation.
GDP:
purchasing power equivalent - $54.6 billion, per capita $12,000; real growth
rate 5% (1991 est.)
Inflation rate (consumer prices):
18% (1991 est.)
Unemployment rate:
11% (1991 est.)
Budget:
revenues $41.7 billion; expenditures $47.6 billion, including capital
expenditures of $NA (FY92)
Exports:
$12.1 billion (f.o.b., 1991 est.)
commodities:
polished diamonds, citrus and other fruits, textiles and clothing, processed
foods, fertilizer and chemical products, military hardware, electronics
partners:
US, EC, Japan, Hong Kong, Switzerland
Imports:
$18.1 billion (c.i.f., 1991 est.)
commodities:
military equipment, rough diamonds, oil, chemicals, machinery, iron and
steel, cereals, textiles, vehicles, ships, aircraft
partners:
US, EC, Switzerland, Japan, South Africa, Canada, Hong Kong
External debt:
$24 billion, of which government debt is $17 billion (December 1991 est.)
Industrial production:
growth rate - 7% (1991 est.); accounts for about 20% of GDP
Electricity:
5,300,000 kWh capacity; 21,000 million kWh produced, 4,800 kWh per capita
(19