Israeli Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz. Photo: Beit Hashalom.

Israel’s finance ministry has adjusted its projection for the country’s economic growth, and the numbers are an improvement.

The economy is expected to grow by 3.5% in 2013, which is 0.5 percent more than earlier projections, and in 2014 by 3.9 percent. This is markedly higher than the IMF’s prediction for economic growth for advanced economies in 2013, which is 1.3 percent. The IMF has projected that the global economy will grow 3.6 percent next year.

Following the announcement, Minister of Finance Yuval Steinitz said, “I wish to warn that additional growth does not in this instance mean additional state revenues, because we have taken revenues from taxes on gas into account. The effect on job creation will be limited.”

“Assuming that the growth forecast is realized, and this is a realistic forecast prepared by the Research Division and supervised by the ministry, Israel will continue, for the next two years as well, to be the number one growth economy among all the countries of the developed Western world. We must do our utmost to preserve this position, to preserve a policy that continues to reinforce the economy’s growth engines, with encouragement for investment and encouragement for job creation.”