Israel’s Back-breaking Yearly Inflation Rate Soars to 5.2%

August 17, 2022

by: Gad Lior ~ Ynetnews

Wednesday, 17 August 2022 | The consumer price index in Israel rose by 1.1% in the month of July, bringing the country’s annual inflation rate to 5.2%, the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) reported on Monday.

This brings inflation in Israel to its highest point since 2008 although this stat remains among the lowest in Western countries.

The CBS also reported that housing prices increased by 2% between May and June 2022, completing a whopping 17.8% increase compared to the same time last year.

The construction cost index rose by 0.5% in July 2022, capping a 6.8% hike over the past 12 months, which is expected to push already-high housing prices further up.

The report notes the situation does not seem any brighter for renters as Israelis who have renewed their contracts over the past year have reported their [rental costs] increasing by 3.5%-7%.

Notable price increases in July included fresh fruit which jumped by 8.5%, transportation by 3.3%, housing by 1.2% and culture and entertainment by 1.2%. Meanwhile, prices of clothing and footwear fell by 4%.

Despite the rapidly rising inflation rate, Israel still [has] far better numbers than the United States and the United Kingdom which are grappling with an annual inflation rate of 8.5% and 9.4%, respectively.

Meanwhile, the Bank of Israel is expected to raise its benchmark interest rate for the fourth month running on August 22 in a bid to blunt fast-rising inflation.

This sharp increase in prices will oblige the central bank to raise the interest rate by 0.5% and perhaps even higher than what most forecasts predict as it has done in the last three increases.

After three and a half years in which the interest rate remained stable, the Bank of Israel and raised interest rates from a record low of 0.1% in April to 1.25% in July.

Posted on August 17, 2022

Source: (This article was originally published by Ynetnews on August 15, 2022. Time-related language has been modified to reflect our publication today. See original article at this link.)

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