General Information

Israel is a country open to foreign investments and seeks to attract them. Consequently, there is generally no limitation on foreign ownership of Israeli companies and assets. Moreover, there are no exchange controls or currency regulations in Israel.

Israel's macroeconomic performance is likely to suffer a sharp downturn this year due to the uncertainties associated with Covid-19. Export growth, driven by high-tech services, has declined with the weakening of the global economy and fixed investments have slowed. Until 2019, the start-up sector stood at record levels, but there is a sharp decline in investment in this area at present. A second phase of lockdown is currently underway in Israel for an initial period of three weeks, and this could well be renewed depending on the evolution of the virus.

Israel's strong macroeconomic performance continues, with output increasing by 3.2% from 2018 to the first quarter of 2019, and similar growth is expected for 2019 as a whole. Export growth, driven by high-tech services, has slowed down slightly due to the weakening of the global economy, and fixed investment has decreased as declines in housing construction have surpassed spending on machinery.

Among the characteristics of its economy, we can highlight the dynamism and openness to international trade. Due to the modest size of the domestic market and the maturity of certain sectors, there is strong competition between local and international companies.

It is worth noting that in mid-September 2020, a historic normalisation agreement was signed between Israel, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.

Means of Payment & Banking Specificities

Depending on the amount of the transaction and the business relationship, we recommend choosing different payment methods: SWIFT transfer, if necessary backed up by a DLC. Advance payments are possible if the amount justifies it. On the other hand, documentary remittance is not recommended.

It should be noted that it is difficult to obtain information about a local company, as this procedure is subject to the prior agreement of the customer.