Israel Active

The cumulative deficit for the last 12 months dropped sharply in November and totaled NIS 31.7 billion, 3% of GDP - much lower than the original target of 4.65% of GDP.

Car manufacturer Qoros Auto Co. Ltd., a joint venture controlled by Israel Corporation and China's Chery Automobile Co. Ltd. has officially opened its first showroom in Europe in the Slovakian capital Bratislava. The price of the Qoros 1.6 turbo will be 20,960 Euros.

UK low-cost airline easyJet is introducing three new routes to and from Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion airport. They are London Gatwick (three flights a week starting April), Milan Malpensa (four times a week starting March) and Berlin (3 times a week starting February).

Irish medical devices company Covidien has bought Israel’s Given Imaging, manufacturer of the unique digestible Pillcam colon diagnosis camera, for a reported $860 million.

One of Israel’s biggest companies, Frutarom has just purchased US-based flavor manufacturer Hagelin & Co for $52.4 million. It follows Frutarom’s recent acquisitions of Russia’s Protein Technologies Ingredients for $50.3 million and Guatemala’s Aroma SA for $12.5 million.

Another all-time low in Israel’s jobless figures.

%. Israel’s unemployment rate fell to 5.9% in October from 6% in September. The number of Israelis participating in the work force rose to 3,704,000, up 0.4% from the previous month.

The total of Israel’s foreign currency reserves reached a new record of £80,589 in November.

Fitch announced this that it has affirmed Israel's 'A' rating and raised the country's outlook to 'positive'. It also affirmed Israel's long-term foreign and local currency ratings at 'A' and 'A+' respectively. The agency also raised the outlook on the foreign currency debt from 'stable' to 'positive'.

After 18 months of talks, Apple Inc confirmed that it has acquired Israel’s PrimeSense. PrimeSense’s gesture recognition hardware and software is embedded in Microsoft’s Kinect system used in Xbox 360 game consoles.