Tel Aviv’s Azrieli towers. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

JNS.org — Israel’s economic growth in the second quarter of 2016 exceeded expectations, with private consumption serving as the primary cause for this development, the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) said Sunday.

Original projections released by the CBS in August placed second-quarter growth at 3.7 percent, but private consumption was up 10 percent in the second quarter, growing by an annualized 5.1% during the first six months of 2016.

The data also showed that private-sector productivity increased by an annualized 2.3% during the first half of 2016, an increase of 0.1% compared to previous projections and an increase of 1.9% compared with the sector’s performance in the first half of 2015.

Household expenditure on durable goods, such as furniture, appliances and cars, noted a sharp rise of 21.2% in the first half of 2016.

Exports of goods and services, excluding diamonds and startup exits, were up an annualized 1.4%, CBS data also showed.