Services exports data for August and for January-August 2019
November 12th , 2019
Bottom line: Service exports continued their steady expansion in August, in line with the trend in 2019 to date. The main driver is exports of high-tech services as a whole, but the most dramatic rise has been in the sale of start-ups. On the other hand, growth in the exports of non-high-tech sectors has been sluggish and, in some cases, slightly negative.
Specifics:
- Total service exports for August amounted to $4.1bn, when measured in ‘original data’ terms — i.e. the actual amount of exports, and $4.5bn in seasonally-adjusted terms. Compared to August 2018, these amounts represented an increase of 7.3% in unadjusted terms and 9.4% after seasonal adjustment.
- For January-August 2019, total service exports increased by some 10.5% over the same period in 2018, in both unadjusted and adjusted terms.
- The relatively slower rate of increase in August reflects stability in tourist revenues and declines – in some cases sharp – in revenues from transportation services. This, in turn, reflects the impact of the slowdown in global trade on Israeli transportation companies.
- The continued expansion of Israeli service exports therefore stems almost entirely from high-tech services. Excluding sales of start-up companies, high-tech service exports rose 12% in January-August and by 13% in August alone.
- Sale of start-up companies and other one-off transactions generated revenues of $2.75bn in January-August 2019, 75% more than in the first eight months of 2018.