Articles by November, 2022

In October, a budget deficit of approximately 3.1 billion shekels was measured, and the cumulative budget surplus in the last 12 months is reduced to 0.5% of GDP (approximately 8 billion shekels). This is according to data released today (Thursday) by the Accountant General of the Ministry of Finance, CPA Yali Rotenberg. According to the Ministry of Finance, the reason for the decrease in the annual budget surplus is also due to the postponement of tax collection estimated at 8.2 billion shekels from September 2021 to October 2021 due to the holidays. The accumulated surplus since the...

At the end of three months of discussions, the National Planning and Construction Council announced that it had decided to immediately freeze dozens of urban renewal projects around the metro stations in the Gush Dan area, which include hundreds of apartments, and set restrictions on future projects at a distance of about 100 meters from the stations, which include a potential of tens of thousands New apartments. This, as part of the approval of the outline for the promotion of TMA 38 projects in the area of ​​TMA 70 - the national outline plan for the area of ​​the metro system in the Tel...

Meta, the parent company of Facebook, confirmed on Wednesday that it intends to lay off about 11,000 employees (about 13% of the workforce). Even earlier, the Wall Street Journal published this morning that its founder and big boss, Mark Zuckerberg, told hundreds of her managers in a meeting he held with them that the layoffs would begin today. This is the largest mass of layoffs this year in the technology industry

Israelis have been complaining more about the service in banks in recent years, according to the annual review of public inquiries published today by the Bank Supervision. The main complaint adds to be the quality of service in banks. In the first half of 2022, the banking supervision received 4,800 complaints and requests for information, which indicates a similar trend to 2021, during which the banking supervision received 10,200 public inquiries

The international credit rating company S&P on Saturday reaffirmed the credit rating of the State of Israel at AA- level with a "stable" rating outlook. The company's forecast for 2022 predicts growth at a rate of 6%, similar to the estimates of the Bank of Israel. However, against the background of the expected slowdown in Israel's trade partners, mainly the United States and Europe, the rating company predicts that growth for 2023 will be only 2% - lower than previous estimates by the Bank of Israel. It should be noted that this growth rate exceeds forecasts in most developed countries

IDE Technologies won the tender for the construction of the seventh desalination plant in Israel, which will be located in the Western Galilee near Nahariya. IDE will build the plant and operate it for 25 years. The state will pay NIS 1.75 per cubic meter, a significantly lower price compared to previous tenders. The facility is expected to discharge approximately 100 million cubic meters of water per year, so the IDE Group's revenues from the facility are expected to reach nearly NIS 180 million per year. Another achievement in the tender is the installation of a pipeline several...

Veev, which develops innovative construction methods, is laying off more than 100 employees from its 400-strong workforce. At the development center in Israel, which employs 100 people, about 20 people will be laid off. Veev, founded by Ami Abrahami and Amit Heller, has developed capabilities for building modular homes. Veev's working method involves manufacturing complete and closed walls in the factory, so they pre-include systems such as plumbing and electricity. Assembling a house in the field takes about two weeks. The company stated in the past that they have all the necessary...

The rating agency S&P points out an aspect that is happening in the Israeli economy: the lack of transparency in the non-bank credit market, which is becoming problematic in light of the growth of the sector. S&P notes that it is more complex to analyze the level of risk in the credit market in Israel, due to the growing share of non-bank credit institutions, which are not supervised by the Bank of Israel

The volume of mortgages taken out by home buyers in October dropped by 21% compared to September - according to data published today (Sunday) by the Bank of Israel. The banks marketed mortgages amounting to only NIS 6.089 billion, compared to NIS 7.7 billion in September. Compared to October 2021, this is a decrease of 43%

The consumer price index was a surprise, rising by 0.6% compared to expectations of 0.5-0.4% and sending annual inflation to over 5%, 3.1 percentage points above the price stability target set by the government. In a properly functioning economy that is growing, the desired annual inflation (the rate of price increase) must range between 1% and 3%, so the governor of the Bank of Israel is not really smiling at the data. The increase in the index was expected since in October the promotions ended for both fresh vegetables and fruits (which increased by 4.1%), and for clothing and footwear...