JERUSALEM, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- Israel's economic growth fell from 5.1 percent in the first quarter of 2018 to only 1.8 percent in the second quarter, the state's Central Bureau of Statistics reported Sunday.
This is a negative growth per capita, for the first time since 2015, as the country's population grew by 1.9 percent in 2018.
In addition, Israel's GDP rose by 4.1 percent in the first half from the previous half, following an increase of 4.3 percent in the second half of 2017 and an increase of 2.4 percent in the first half of 2017.
Israel's total exports of goods and services fell by 2 percent in the second quarter, while imports of goods and services rose by only 1.3 percent.
In first half of 2018, Israeli exports rose by 4.8 percent due to an increase in industrial exports by 4.5 percent and tourism services exports by 10.3 percent. Israel's agricultural exports fell by an annual 12.3 percent.
Israeli imports rose by 10.5 percent in the first half, after a rise of 14.3 percent in the second half of 2017.
Private consumption expenditure (PCE) in the second quarter fell 1.7 percent, indicating a decline in the standard of living.
Israel's business product rose by an annual rate of 4.5 percent in the first half of the year, following an increase of 4.9 percent in the previous half and an increase of 2.2 percent in the first half of 2017.
Residential investment declined in the first half of the year by 12.6 percent, following a decline of 7 percent in the previous half and an increase of 4.3 percent in the first half of 2017.
