1998 Shows Another Impressive Israeli Economic Achievement.

During 1998, a year that many were calling an economic catastrophe, national budget expenditures as a proportion of Israel's gross domestic product (GDP) dropped to 45.1 percent. In comparison, government spending as recently as 1995 was 48. percent of the GDP. Most western economies have proportions of expenditures to GDP that are significantly below Israelis' 1998 percentage of 45.1 percent. These expenditures range from a USA low of 35 percent to a Spanish high of 40 percent of GDP. Nevertheless Israel's reduction is an important economic achievement. Reduced expenditures will