Inflation in Israel in 2018 was surprisingly lower than expected, the Central Bureau of Statistics said on Tuesday. The Finance Ministry's inflation target rate for 2018 was 1%-3% after experts initially forecast it would end up being 1.1 percent.
Despite the unexpectedly low inflation, it was still double that of 2017 and the highest since 2013.
U.S. President Donald Trump's policies in the energy market may have also played a role in the relatively modest price hikes in 2018. Trump's push for greater oil output from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries resulted in lower prices at the pump for Israeli drivers and ultimately brought down inflation by 0.3 percentage points.
Inflation was also affected by the Israeli housing market cooling off in 2018, with apartment prices falling by 2.3% in 2018. This can be attributed to the Finance Ministry's flagship program offering young couples subsidized homes through a lottery system.
