Israel Active

MindCET, the technological arm of the Center for Educational Technology (CET), has announced the founding of a fund for investment in edu-tech in cooperation with the UK government. The fund, called TaskForce, will initially invest $250,000 in each of 4-6 ventures annually.

The Bank of Israel's Composite State of the Economy Index for May 2017 increased by 0.3 percent.  There were significant increases in Industrial Production, manufacturing inputs and revenues for trade and services.  Previous figures for February, March and April were also revised upwards.

Israel’s 2016 revenue totaled 321.1 billion shekels ($88.02 billion), higher than the Government’s 2016 target of 312.3 billion shekels ($85.61 billion). Also, the Finance Ministry set itself a deficit goal for 2016 of 2.9%, whereas the actual deficit was only 2.1%.

Government and opposition parties have jointly agreed to the raising of the allowance for disabled Israelis from the current NIS 2,500 to NIS 4,000 in three stages.  Housing assistance will also be raised, from NIS 770 to NIS 1,000.

Dani Gadayev, co-founder and CEO of Israeli start-up TopGuides, describes the company’s online platform to connect tourists with tour guides, eliminating the need to pay commission to an agency.  

Israel’s Bank Leumi and Ping An, China’s largest insurance group, agreed to promote and integrate Israeli hi-tech companies into the Chinese market.  The agreement was signed as part of Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu’s visit to China.

The Ramat Gan Diamond Exchange has applied to establish a technology innovation center, to be called Diamond Tech. Its aim is to nurture Israeli and foreign startups in the early stages of the development of technology to be used primarily in the diamond sector.

The city of Beit Shemesh is expected to double in size in the coming years. Approval has been given for 17,000 new apartments plus 530 dunams of land for businesses, companies, and hotels. In addition, the city will construct infrastructure and improve the city's parks and public transportation.

Israeli Government bonds will be even more highly desirable shortly, when Israeli bonds are included in the Citigroup World Government Bond Index (WGBI). Financial institutions will then be required to buy Israeli bonds to track the WGBI for their customers.

Israel’s Milk & Honey Distillery (M&H) unveiled Israel’s first-ever single-malt whisky on World Whisky Day (May 20). 391 bottles will be sold in select Israeli stores in late June, after aging 3 years in special oak casks . Note that Israel’s Golan Heights distillery already produces Golani Two-grain whiskey.