One of the main reasons that I started this blog was to highlight to many others what the Israeli economy has to offer the global market. By contrast, over the past 12 months, I have been increasingly forced into a position of shouting “Help, danger ahead!”.

Earlier this week, one of the country’s leading financial journalists found himself in a similar position. Sever Plocker laid it out from the top:

• In the first four months of the year, exports have fallen 22%
• They had already started tapering off late in 2015
• Hightech exports, a key factor for years in determining Israel’s growth, are 32% lighter.

You can add in to that property prices are still rising, and are forecast to continue their upward spiral in 2016. It is hardly surprising that the OECD has lowered its forecast for 2016 from 3.2% to 2.5%.

In itself, these patterns are disappointing. What is disastrous is the lack of response to the problems.

1. The Prime Minister is determined to create a 24 month rolling budget, even though the relevance of such a move is unbelievably cloudy.
2. The Minister of Finance, Moshe Kahlon, is trying to reform  the procedures to import food, which would lower basic prices. However, a coalition of vested interest groups are holding up the changes.
3. The development of the offshore gas fields is stuck in the courts.
4. And………..well, there does not seem to be a lot to report on.

You see just because you announce a new economic policy to help business, the effects take time to work their way through the system. Meantime, the current trends are able to play themselves out without restraint.

Bottom line: If the OECD has already slashed is forecast by a near 1% in just a few months, how bad will thing be for the Israeli economy by the end of the year? Where Bibi fiddles, simply nothing seems to be burning with desire.