Central Bureau of Statistics: Decline in the gross domestic product in the first quarter to 1.9%

A new estimate, the second this year, of the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) on the Israeli economy, indicates a worsening in the decline in the gross domestic product in the first quarter by 1.9%, compared to the estimate published last month, according to which growth in Israel was only 1.6%. It should be noted that the gross domestic product per capita recorded a more significant decrease of 3.5% due to the increase in the population.
Hogg argues that two consecutive quarters of negative growth indicate the beginning of a recession, but at present, there is no data on the second quarter of the year, which will end in two weeks, but estimates are that growth will not be negative, because the main decline in GDP was in the first quarter , When the omicron strain caused hundreds of thousands of workers to spend a few days in isolation in their homes, which caused, among other things, a decrease in activity in the economy.
The data released today by the CBS shows that the decline in VAT excluding taxes on imports is even higher - minus 3.2%, while GDP in the business sector fell by only 1.7%. The factor that led to the high growth in 2021, which even reached 8.2 In the last quarter, private consumption recorded a significant decrease of 1.5% in the first quarter of the year. 7%, after an increase for most of the past year.
At the same time, there was a particularly high increase in imports of goods and services at a rate of 17.9%, even before the opening of imports to full competition. Investment in assets also increased (2.1%).
Comparing the first quarter of 2022 to the first quarter of 2021, some of which were almost completely closed in Israel, this year's quarter reflects an increase in GDP of 8.9%, and business GDP of 10.5%. Private consumption expenditure was 13% higher in January to March this year compared to these months in 2021, at the time of closure.
Compared to the first quarter of 2021, there was an increase in the first quarter of 2022 of 10.6% in property investments, an increase of 9.6% in exports and an increase of 18.8% in imports of goods and services.
Another interesting statistic in the report is that per capita expenditure on durable goods (cars, refrigerators, washing machines, etc.) increased in the first quarter by 16.3% on an annualized basis, while expenditure on clothing, footwear, home textiles, tools and household small appliances, entertainment and leisure items and personal belongings , Decreased in the first quarter by 6.2%.
GDP (gross domestic product). The abbreviation used, expresses the basket of all goods and services produced in a certain period of time - year, quarter, month - in a country's economy, for example, Israel. To this must be added all the revenues of local production factors operating outside the country Israel, but reduce the revenues of external factors of production that work in the economy, such as foreign workers.
If you divide the gross domestic product by the number of people living in the country, you get the per capita GDP figure, which indicates the standard of living in that country. The higher the per capita GDP, the stronger the economy and the higher the level of citizens living.
Economic growth is the increase in the possibilities of a farm for the consumption or production of products. The growth describes the overall performance of the economy's industries compared to the previous period, the previous year, and the previous quarter. Growth can be calculated for a particular country, industry, industry, or company. When growth rises and even jumps - the state of the economy improves and the economic situation of the citizens is better. Negative growth makes it clear that in Israel less is produced, less is consumed and less is exported. And this can point in a bad direction because if you produce less, because you consume less, you need fewer workers in factories and companies.