ered between
two equal horizontal blue bands near the top and bottom edges of the
flag

Economy

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.
Manufacturing and construction employ about 28% of Israeli workers;
agriculture, forestry, and fishing 2.6%; and services the rest.
Israel is largely self-sufficient in food production except for
grains. Diamonds, high-technology equipment, and agricultural
products (fruits and vegetables) are 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 topped 750,000 during the period 1989-98,
bringing the population of Israel from the former Soviet Union to
one million, one-sixth of the total population and adding scientific
and professional expertise of substantial value for the economy's
future. The influx, 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 slowing in 1996 when the
government imposed tighter fiscal and monetary policies and the
immigration bonus petered out.

GDP: purchasing power parity--$101.9 billion (1998 est.)

GDP--real growth rate: 1.9% (1998 est.)

GDP--per capita: purchasing power parity?$18,100 (1998 est.)

GDP--composition by sector:
agriculture: 2%
industry: 17%
services: 81% (1997 est.)

Population below poverty line: NA%

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

Inflation rate (consumer prices): 5.4% (1998 est.)

Labor force: 2.3 million (1997)

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: 8.7% (1998 est.)

Budget:
revenues: $5