Special to WorldTribune.com

Driven by a thriving high-tech industry, Israel’s economy enjoyed a high rate of growth this past year and that momentum is expected to continue through the coming year, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

In an annual report on Israel’s economy published on Sept. 16 by the IMF, the group’s economists said Israel came out relatively unscathed from the global economic crisis of 2009 and remains a country whose open economy is well-integrated with the international economy.

Israel has a large economic advantage in its high-tech industry, the IMF economists said. The industry accounts for more than 40 percent of the country’s industrial exports.

The IMF predicted Israel’s economic growth would be 2.5 percent in 2015 and 3 percent in 2016.

The few downsides in Israel’s economic outlook, the IMF economists said, were a 4 percent increase in housing prices and an income gap between the highest earners and the lowest earners in Israel that was among the highest in the West.

  3 percent economic growth, high growth projected based on high-tech, high-tech exports, IMF: Israel’s economy strong, WorldTribune.com