Israel’s latest budget is a maze of compromises, aimed at placating the crying of politicians in a weak coalition. It is a set of numbers that allows people to keep their jobs rather than promoting a revitalised economy.

Yet in parallel, there is a new dynamic at work in the country. Talking to my business coaching customers in the Jerusalem area, you can hear how sales are generally picking up. The slow down, which had probably started even before last year’s military action with Hamas, appears to be coming to an end.

This week saw four very encouraging pieces of news, all of which have implications on finances and economies way beyond the region.

1) Tel Aviv Stock Exchange has moved ahead by 17% since the beginning of the year, which makes it the 14th best performing index in the world. That made it an even better bet than in the exchanges in the  USA, UK, Germany and most leading finance centres. This is even more impressive, considering the geographical closeness of Greece and the Euro trading zone. The understanding is that overseas traders are coming back.

2) Israel’s “high-tech frenzy” shows no sign of slagging. Roughly six billion dollars of foreign investment found its way to the Holy Land in the first half of 2015, and July showed no signs of letting up. Of particular note is the interest shown from the Chinese investors, as they have bought out Tnuva and others.

3) In parallel to the foreign investment, 2015 has seen yet more multinationals open up R&D facilities in Israel. Joining the likes of Facebook, Intel, Samsung and hundreds of others, we have seen Battery Ventures and Chinese groups plan new facilities. This week, eBay announced that it intends to recruit a further 50 software engineers in addition to the 230 ‘hightechies’ it currently employs near Tel Aviv.

4) Innovation – it just does not stop in Israel, however horrendously hot the weather has been this week or whatever verbal abuse the Iranians continue to hurl at the Zionist entity. In the words of one overseas commentator, “the pace of innovation is so swift that genuine breakthroughs are made all the time”. Examples lie everywhere. For the past few weeks, I have been working with a company that detects, monitors and purifies liquids in industrial processes through a unique patented technology.

Israel hits the headlines for many reasons, usually in the geopolitical arena. Strangely, the main financial papers like the FT or the Economist so rarely find a way to report its positive impact, especially when it comes to the money markets and technologies. Time for a rethink?