Israeli economic outlook boosted by fast vaccination drive

Israel's rapid deployment of vaccines is building optimism about the pace of economic expansion this year.

Bank Leumi Le-Israel analysts including chief economist Gil Bufman see a base case of 4.9% growth, and up to 7% if the inoculation momentum holds, rreports Bloomberg.

Jonathan Katz, macroeconomic strategist for Leader Capital Markets Ltd., sees output growing 4.2%, up from a previously forecast 3.9% -- including a 9% jump in fourth-quarter 2021 over the same period last year.

If previously the expectation had been for a weak first half and ideally a strong second half, then perhaps now the recovery can begin as early as the second quarter, Katz said.

Israel leads Covid-19 vaccine race with 1 million given jab

Israel has a rate of 11.55 vaccination doses per 100 people, which is the highest rate in the world, followed by Bahrain at 3.49 and the UK at 1.47, according to a global tracking website affiliated with Oxford University.

Israel has administedred vaccinations to more than one million people against coronavirus in less than two weeks after the launch of its Covid-19 inoculation campaign,  as global immunisation efforts step up.