The Tel Aviv skyline at night. Photo: Gilad Avidan via Wikimedia Commons.

JNS.org – Foreign investment in Israel amounted to $12.6 billion in 2016, a 7-percent increase from the previous year, according to the Foreign Investments Authority at the Israeli Ministry of Economy and Industry.

Some 320 international companies have operations in the Jewish state, and the rate at which multinational companies are doing business in Israel has tripled during the last decade. Overseas companies account for 50 percent of research and development spending within Israel and have approximately 50,000 Israeli employees, the Foreign Investments Authority said.

The figures were unveiled at the Foreign Investment Authority’s first-ever conference for international companies this week.

In 2016, Israel’s central bank noted in its annual report that the country’s gross domestic product hit a record 1.22 trillion shekels ($337 billion). Additionally, the Israeli unemployment rate dropped to 4.8 percent last year.