JERUSALEM, Nov. 17 (Xinhua) -- Israeli gross domestic product (GDP) jumped by a year-on-year 4.1 percent unexpectedly in the third quarter of 2017, according to official data on Thursday.
The figure was 2.5 percent in the second quarter and 0.9 percent in the first quarter, based on the preliminary statistics of the Central Bureau of Statistics of Israel.
High increase in investment and private consumption played an important role in pushing upward the GDP growth, according to the report.
Investment in fixed assets gained an increase of 8.1 percent compared with the same period of 2016, while private consumption saw a growth of 7.8 percent.
GDP for the business sector (excluding start-up companies) received a year-on-year growth of 4.2 percent.
Statistics also showed that imports of goods and services (excluding defense imports, ships, aircraft and diamonds) grew by 10.5 percent in the third quarter compared with the previous year.
Export growth (excluding diamonds and start-up companies), however, almost suffered a stagnation, which received a growth of merely 0.4 percent.
In October, the Bank of Israel cut its forecast of 2017 GDP growth from 3.4 percent to 3.1 percent, while remaining 2018 growth forecast at 3.3 percent.
