War-battered Economy Plunged Almost 20%, Marking Sharpest Contraction Since Pandemic

With the outbreak of the war, private consumption and investments dropped sharply, while government spending soared amid massive reservist callup and wide population displacements

Israel’s economy shrank by nearly one-fifth in the last three months of 2023, as war with the Hamas terror group in Gaza took a heavy toll on consumer spending, trade and investment, data released Monday showed.

The country’s gross domestic product recorded a 19.4 percent drop-off of its annual rate in the fourth quarter of 2023, according to the preliminary figures published by the Central Bureau of Statistics.

The decline marks the deepest three-month tumble since the second quarter of 2020, when the economy plunged almost 30% as the coronavirus pandemic-related lockdowns hurt consumer spending and left many businesses closed.

Fortune reported in "Israel’s Economy Sinks 20% As The War Decimates Consumer Spending And Real Estate Investments" [bypass paywall]:

"The worse-than-forecasted results were driven primarily by two sectors that were heavily impacted by the war: consumer spending, and real-estate investment. Private consumption in the quarter declined 26.9%. "

🔗Source: Times of Israel

Related: 1/26 — Israel Turns to India to Fill Workforce Void

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