JERUSALEM, May 19 (NNN-MA’AN) – Israel’s gross domestic product (GDP), contracted by an annualised 6.5 percent in the first quarter of 2021, due to lockdown measures to contain the COVID-19 pandemic, the Central Bureau of Statistics said, yesterday.
The GDP decrease was also caused by a significant decline in car imports in the first quarter, caused by changes in imported vehicle tax rates, said the bureau.
Private consumption expenditure, which was affected by the decline in car imports, declined by 3.2 percent in the first quarter, while private consumption per capita fell by 4.7 percent.
The Israeli GDP per capita fell by an annualised 7.9 percent in the first quarter, after a 4.7-percent rise in the Oct-Dec period in 2020.– NNN-MA’AN
