The Index was positively affected by increases in the import of consumer goods (April), goods exports (April), and services exports (February). The April figure for the retail trade revenue index was estimated by using the index of supermarket trade (which was published in April), and contributed to the increase in the Index. The job vacancy rate remains at a record high that reflects the continued desire of employers to expand their operations following the reopening of the economy. In contrast, the Industrial Production Index (March), the services revenue index (March), and the import of consumer goods (April) declined, which had a negative impact on the Index.
It seems that thus far, the war in Ukraine, which led to a marked increase in commodity prices, has not resulted in a significant impact in real economic activity in Israel.
Table 1 presents the revisions to the Index for previous months. The Index readings for February and March were revised downward (slightly more moderate expansion), influenced by National Accounts data for the first quarter of 2022.
Table 2 presents the development of components of the Index in the past few months.
In view of the uniqueness of the crisis and the resulting measurement difficulties, the changes in the Index should not be used as an indicator of the precise intensity of changes in economic activity.
Table 1: Revisions in the Composite Index
|
Revision |
Previous figure |
New figure |
|
April |
|
0.18 |
|
March |
0.19 |
0.09 |
|
February |
0.10 |
0.07 |
|
January |
0.07 |
0.07 |
|
December |
-0.09 |
-0.09 |
|
November |
0.40 |
0.40 |
Table 2: Changes in the Index components in recent months♦
(monthly percent change, unless otherwise noted)
|
|
April |
March |
February |
January |
|
Industrial Production Index (excluding mining and quarrying) |
|
-1.1 |
1.0 |
1.0 |
|
Services Revenue Index (excluding education and public administration) |
|
-0.7 |
4.3 |
1.4 |
|
Retail Trade Revenue Index |
|
-0.6 |
0.7 |
0.8 |
|
Imports of consumer goods1 |
14.8 |
-6.3 |
-2.4 |
8.1 |
|
Imports of manufacturing inputs (excluding fuels)1 |
-2.8 |
2.0 |
-2.6 |
7.1 |
|
Goods exports (excluding agriculture)1 |
2.9 |
3.2 |
5.1 |
-0.9 |
|
Services exports (excluding transportation)2 |
|
|
3.0 |
0.9 |
|
Number of employee posts in the private sector |
|
|
0.0 |
0.1 |
|
Job vacancy rate in the business sector3 |
5.1 |
5.1 |
5.1 |
5.0 |
1 Goods imports and exports are calculated in fixed prices (adjusted for changes in foreign trade price indices).
2 Services exports are calculated in real terms using the Consumer Price Index, and are comprised of the export of other business services and the export of tourism services.
3 The job vacancy rate is calculated out of the total number of employed people, and is included in the index at its seasonally adjusted level.
Detailed explanations regarding how the Composite Index is calculated, as well as detailed long-term tables, can be found at
https://www.boi.org.il/en/Research/Pages/ind.aspx