JERUSALEM, Oct. 31 (Xinhua) -- Israeli services, trade and manufacturing industries are expected for expansion in the fourth quarter of 2017, according to a survey report issued Monday by the Bank of Israel.
While the net balance in the overall business sector in the third quarter is slightly lower than it was last year, it remains positive, to a statistically significant degree, said the report on the basis of the findings of the Companies Survey for the third quarter of 2017.
The net balance of Israeli manufacturing industry output is near zero and statistically insignificant, and reflects a decline in domestic demand, in the utilization rate of machinery and equipment, and in the growth of the number of workers, the finding showed.
Based on orders for the coming quarter, expectations in the manufacturing industry are that export sales will stabilize and sales to the domestic market will increase.
As for the Israeli services industry, the report said that the net balance of the industry revenues is positive and statistically significant, signifying expansion of the sales of services in Israel and abroad, and an increase in the total number of employees in Israel.
Expectations in the services industry are that the increase in orders as a whole will continue and the increase in orders from abroad will expand in the fourth quarter, said the report.
According to the findings, the decline in sales in Israeli trade industry that was recorded in the second quarter moderated greatly in the third quarter and the net balance of sales in the third quarter was near zero and statistically insignificant.
Expectations in the trade industry are that sales will increase and the number of employees will decline in the fourth quarter, said the report.
The findings also presented that the shortage of professional workers has intensified in the Israeli manufacturing, services, and trade industries, and remained high in the construction industry relative to the other industries.
In terms of the financing constraint, its level has been low for a number of years, and it continued to decline in general in the third quarter, and more markedly among medium-sized companies, according to the survey report.
With regard to the expectations for inflation, in the third quarter of 2017, the average of companies' expectations of the inflation rate over the coming 12 months declined to 1.29 percent.
The share of companies that expect inflation over the coming 12 months to be within the target range of 1-3 percent indicating price stability also declined, to 67 percent, while the share of companies expecting that inflation will remain below the target range increased, to 30 percent, the findings report said.
Expectations regarding the exchange rate continued to decline, to NIS 3.58/$ for the next quarter, and to NIS 3.68/$ for one year from now, according to the report.
The findings of the Companies Survey for the third quarter of 2017 are based on the responses of 322 Israeli companies and businesses in various industries. And the survey data are generally in line with the trends of the Israeli macroeconomic data.
