Israel's economy grew by 15.4% in the second quarter of 2021, compared with the previous three-month period, the Central Bureau of Statistics said Monday.
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An analysis of the data by financial daily Globes said that the figures reflected the country's financial recovery from the series of lockdowns imposed over the global pandemic and not exceptional economic gains per-se.
Compares with the economic growth in the second half of 2020, Israel's economy expanded by 5.3% across the first six months of 2021. H1 growth figures are close to the Bank of Israel's 5.5% projection for economic growth in 2021, the report said.
Last week, Bank of Israel Governor Professor Amir Yaron warned against the possibility that a fourth lockdown would be imposed, telling financial news agency Bloomberg that the government must do everything within its power to avoid the measure, which Yaron believes could shave 0.5% off of gross domestic product growth in Israel in 2021.
Finance Minister Avigdor Liberman has also voiced opposition to a fourth lockdown, saying that while the dangers posed by the current Delta variant were unclear, there is a consensus about the economic damage that a lockdown would inflict on Israel.
Israel's Q2-2021 performance also exceeded Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development projections as to second-quarter growth figures for member-states Belgium (14.5%), Canada (13.8%), the US (12.2%), and Austria (11.4%). However, it was lower than Portugal (15.4%), and France (18.7%).
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The Central Bureau of Statistics further found that car imports, which have undergirded much of the economic recovery and have remained remarkably robust during 2021, contributed to 12.4% in GDP growth in the second quarter of the year.
Private consumption spiked some 36.3%, as people, who had presumably managed to save more during 2020, began to spend as the COVID restrictions were gradually lifted throughout 2021.
i24NEWS contributed to this report.
