During a meeting with Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen on Monday, Mathias Cormann, Secretary General for the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), said he expects Israel’s economy to grow by 4.5% in 2025.
Cormann’s statement demonstrated the OECD’s faith in Israel’s economy in the longer term, even after the organization lowered Israel’s growth forecast from 2.9% to 2.3% in 2023 and predicted a still sharper reduction of 1.5% for 2024 (compared to 3.3%) due to the Oct. 7 attack.
Cohen detailed the moves Israel’s government and Foreign Ministry were taking to keep the economy’s wheels turning during the war.
Israel is a world leader in the fields of food security, water, climate and agriculture, and will continue to be so after the fall of Hamas and the return of the hostages, he said.
Cormann proposed the OECD’s aid tools for dealing with the challenges posed by the war in Gaza.
The two also discussed promoting regional projects with an emphasis on cooperation with the countries of the Abraham Accords.
“The State of Israel entered the war in Gaza in a solid economic situation and with the ability to provide the best response to the needs of the Israeli economy,” said Cohen.
“The extent of the war’s impact on the main growth engines of the Israeli economy, especially technology and innovation, is relatively low,” he added.
“Past experience proves that after the end of security crises and wars, there is accelerated growth, and the expected increase in immigration to Israel from around the world will also contribute to the strengthening of the Israeli economy,” he said.
