Last quarter of 2020, however, sees impressive GDP growth of 6.5%

Israel's economy contracted by 2.6 percent during 2020, the year defined by the coronavirus pandemic, the Central Bureau of Statistics said on Sunday, revising from an earlier estimate of a decline by 2.5 percent.

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Helped by its record-setting vaccination campaign, the country looks to emerge from the trying period, as earlier in the day the Health Ministry scrapped the ruling demanding that Israelis wear masks outdoors amid declining infection numbers. 

In the fourth quarter of 2020, however, Israel's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew by an impressive annualized rate of 6.5 percent, buoyed by the beginning of the vaccine rollout and an increase in car imports. 

According to the third and final revision issued by the bureau, private consumption in Israel in 2020 shrank by 9.5 percent, as it underwent three nation-wide lockdowns to curb morbidity.  Read more at i24