Israel’s Exports Pass $100B Mark

Despite the strong shekel, Israel exports reached an all-time high in 2017 – and for the first time passed the $100 billion dollar mark, the Central Bureau of Statistics reported. Exports in 2017 totaled $102.3 billion, a 6.4 percent increase over the amount exported in 2016.

Exports of products and manufactured goods increased 3.3 percent in 2017 over the numbers a year earlier, and were responsible for $58 billion of Israel’s exports. Exports of services rose substantially, by 11 percent, for a total of $44.3 billion. The component of service exports that rose the most were “other special services,” which includes many of the high-tech services that Israel exports.

Imports, meanwhile, rose 7.9 percent in 2017 over the previous year’s level, totaling $96.7 billion. Investments by foreigners in Israel jumped to $18.6 billion in 2017, more than double the level as recently as 2015, when foreign investments amounted to $8.6 billion.

Economy Minister Eli Cohen said that “the statistics that the CBS has released prove the contention we made already months ago – that Israel’s exports would set a new record in 2017, and beat even our own forecasts. I am happy to see that Israeli companies are succeeding abroad.”