OECD- Israel places seventh for growth compared to 30 of the organization members

Nira Shamir, head of the Manufacturers Association of Israel (MAI) economic division said last week that based on comparative analysis of figures provided by the Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Israel places seventh for growth compared to the 30 members of the organization.
 
The study show that despite of the war in Lebanon, the economy will grow by 4.5% this year, beating the OECD average of 3.1%.
 
Countries with higher growth rate than Israel are, among others, Slovakia 6.3%, Turkey 6.1%, the Czech Republic 5.7%, Korea 5.2%, Ireland 5% and Hungary 4.6%.
 
The Israeli growth rate would, however, outpace the U.S. 3.6%, Finland 3.4%, Japan 2.5%, France 2.4% and Germany 2.2%.
 
Shamir noted that Israel had recently closed the per capita GDP gap with OECD nations, from 16% in 2004 to 12.5% today.