Israeli Economic Activity Index Declines by 0.4% in May

SadaNews - The monthly economic activity index in Israel decreased by 0.4% in May, indicating a slowdown in economic activity compared to the long-term trend, affected by a number of negative factors related to production, revenues, and consumption.

This was according to a statement issued by the Bank of Israel on Wednesday, which explained that the index reflects the average estimates of monthly growth over the three months between March and May, based on a statistical model developed by the bank to estimate the monthly GDP growth rate.

The statement indicated that the decline was negatively impacted by revenue data in the commerce and services sectors, as well as industrial production during March, in addition to data on consumer goods imports and indirect tax revenues in May. The actual GDP data for the first quarter of 2026 also contributed to lowering the index.

Conversely, several indicators limited the scale of the decline, notably an increase in purchases made with credit cards, improvements in financial data related to the general index on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange and the "Nasdaq" index during April and May, along with an increase in goods exports in May.

The bank noted that the current growth rate of the index is lower than the long-term growth rate, estimated at around 0.3% monthly, reflecting a relative slowdown in the pace of economic activity.

It also pointed out that the index data for the previous two months were revised downward after completing the data that was not available at the previous publication, in addition to downward adjustments of the growth estimates for the first quarter of 2026.

The bank clarified that the monthly economic activity index reflects the average estimated monthly growth rate of GDP over a span of three months, and is based on data issued by various entities, including the Central Bureau of Statistics, the Ministry of Finance, financial market and banking data, as well as analyses from the Bank of Israel.