Israel's trade deficit increases by 7.9% over eight months in 2014

A monthly report on Israel’s foreign trade, issued by the Central Bureau of Statistics Israel (CBS), on Thursday, said that the deficit in the Israeli trade balance during the first eight months of this year rose by 7.87 per cent to 36 billion shekels ($10 billion), compared to the same period last year.

According to the report, a copy of which was obtained by Anadolu News Agency, the deficit of the first eight months in 2014 increased by 2.6 billion shekels ($743 million, compared to the corresponding period last year), reaching approximately 33.4 billion shekels ($9.27 billion) until the end of August 2013.

According to the CBS data, Israel’s total imports of goods during the current year (until the end of August) is nearly 175 billion shekels ($48.6 billion), compared to exports, which amounted to 139 billion shekels ($38.6 billion) during the same period.

The report highlighted the decline in imports of raw materials during the first eight months by 9.5 per cent compared to the same period last year; while Israeli technological exports continued to decline (no percentage was specified in the report).

In the past five years, Israel advanced technology industry has excelled, and was one of the first global countries to deal with high-tech exports, with total exports of technological commodities amounting to $40 billion in the past year out of $93 billion in exports of goods and services in total.

The report states that Israel’s goods exports fell by 14.2 per cent at an annual rate due to the decline of global economies, and the decline of the American dollar against the shekel during the first eight months of last year, as well as the European boycott of settlements.

The import of consumer goods in Israel fell by 1 per cent at an annual rate in June-August 2014, while the imports of non-durable goods declined by 4.2 per cent at an annual rate.

The report also mentioned that Israel’s total imports of fuel (crude oil and coal) during the first eight months of 2014 amounted to 32.3 billion shekels ($9 billion), with a 12.5 per cent decline in comparison with the same period last year.

Israel’s imports of fuel (coal in particular) dropped due to the transition to natural gas for power generation in Israel as a substitute for coal, which reduced the volume of the Israeli imports of fuel.

Israeli exports to the Palestinian Authority during the past year (2013) reached almost $4 billion, including $3.5 billion from Israel, and $500 million from settlements, while Israel’s imports from the Palestinian Authority reached about $550 million in 2013.