Israel’s Economy Ranked 3rd Most Stable in the World
Index published by Bloomberg financial news agency cites near-zero inflation and a low unemployment rate as stabilizing factors • Israel follows Hong Kong, South Korea in the rankings • Oil-rich Venezuela named least stable economy for 2016.
Near-nonexistent inflation and a low unemployment rate of 4.8% have helped propel Israel to the No. 3 spot on a list of the world’s most stable and promising economies for 2016 published by the Bloomberg financial news agency.
The Bloomberg list named Hong Kong as the most stable economy in 2016, followed by South Korea.
Denmark, Taiwan, Iceland, Japan, Switzerland, Singapore and Thailand followed Israel to round out the top 10 in the rankings.
The countries whose economies Bloomberg ranked lowest for stability in 2016 included Croatia, Colombia, Uruguay, Brazil, Serbia, Spain, Ukraine, Turkey — which ranked fifth from last — Greece, Argentina, and South Africa. The country whose economy was rated last for 2016 was Venezuela, despite its rich oil resources.
Israel’s economy continues to perform well by international parameters. In January, Israel cracked the top 10 on the 2017 Bloomberg Innovation Index, which rates the level of innovation in a nation’s economy by scoring its spending on research and development and its number of publicly traded high-tech companies.
Earlier this month, a report by Bank of America Merrill Lynch assessed the Israeli economy as “on a robust recovery path with growth rates running at 3 to 4% levels” and noted that the Bank of Israel was “defying gravity” by checking the appreciation of the shekel against the dollar.