Tel Aviv at night.

At a press conference in Tel Aviv Monday Merrill Lynch’s Bill O’Neill, the Wealth Management chief investment officer for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, reported that the Israeli economy is in very good shape by global comparison and will grow by 3% in the next year.

According to Globes, O’Neill said that he doubts that the Bank of Israel will cut the interest rate taking into consideration the upcoming elections and sensitive political situation.

He also said that Israel’s inflation was balanced, and that the shekel was balanced and stable against the dollar. He added that most activity in Israel would focus on the consumer sector and that home prices would be stable in the near term.

“The fiscal policy was very responsible in the last [few] years ,” Amnon Kraus, Deputy Chief Fiscal Officer at Israel’s Ministry of Finance told The Algemeiner. “We have reduced the debt and not increased it like the European countries and the U.S.”

According to Globes O’Neill concluded by recommending investment in Israeli stocks over bonds.

From a Global perspective O’Neill says in a new report that the outlook for 2013 is much brighter than in 2012. He sees increased evidence of the Federal Reserve’s progress in rekindling the US economy and even a gradual eurozone recovery in prospect during the second half. In addition, in China GDP growth is forecast to improve slightly.