Israel’s economy grew by an annualized 2.5 percent in the third quarter of 2015. Private spending (Israel’s main growth driver) rose 2.4% and exports grew by 4.4%. http://www.thetower.org/2578-israeli-economy-posts-strong-gains-in-third-quarter/

Water charges will fall by 3% in Israel from Jan 1. Charges have been cut by a cumulative 20% in the past three years. The current cut is thanks to a 16% annual fall in the price of electricity – … Continue reading →

The Israeli cabinet has approved the exempting of public transportation from VAT. From Jan 1 2016, the cost of public transportation for all Israelis will fall by 17%. http://www.globes.co.il/en/article-cabinet-approves-0-vat-for-public-transport-1001080996

The number of tourists to Israel in October from India increased by 44% over the same month last year. Overall, Oct 2015 saw a 5% increase in tourists compared with Oct 2014 http://www.algemeiner.com/2015/11/24/report-despite-spike-in-terrorism-sharp-increase-in-indian-tourism-to-israel/

Israeli security startup Safe-T has launched on the Tel Aviv stock exchange (TASE) – the first tech company to do so in 2015. Safe-T expects to raise $5.6 million from the IPO. http://snip.ly/u24A#http://in.reuters.com/article/2015/11/17/safe-t-israel-ipo-idINL8N13C23320151117

Foreign exchange platform CurrencyTransfer has announced that it will be extending its services to holders of Israeli shekels. The UK firm has just opened new offices in Tel Aviv and offers rates within 0.5% of market rates with no fees … Continue reading →

Six joint US-Israeli projects received a total of $5.1 million from the 2015 Binational Industrial Research and Development (BIRD) Energy program. Israeli companies involved are 3GSolar, Ayyeka, Haogenplast, Pentalum, Solaris-Synergy and Yissum. See video of US Secretary of Energy. http://jewishbusinessnews.com/2015/11/24/bird-energy-to-invest-5-1-million-in-cooperative-israeli-u-s-clean-energy-projects/ … Continue reading →

Now you can purchase, on NASDAQ, units of the ITEQ ETF, a new Exchange Traded Fund that exclusively hold shares of public Israeli and Israel-linked technology companies by tracking the TASE-BlueStar Israel Global Technology Index (TA-BIGITech). http://www.timesofisrael.com/new-exchange-traded-fund-opens-up-start-up-nation-to-investors/

Internet giant Amazon has chosen Israeli-developed Payoneer to expand cross-border payment options to sellers from 24 countries. http://www.payoneer.com/PR/PayoneerAmazon.aspx https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ofKJZb-1eY http://blog.payoneer.com/amazon-selects-payoneer-to-power-x-border-payments-for-sellers-worldwide/

Israel’s Salt of the Earth has launched Umamix (see Aug 2015 newsletter), its new sodium reduction ingredient for hamburgers and processed meat at Fi Europe, Paris. Umamix is derived from tomato, shiitake mushroom, kombu seaweed and pure Red Sea salt. … Continue reading →