prices both due to relatively moderate demand, and due to increased supply. against this background, the major central banks continued, and some of them further enhanced, their very accommodative monetary policy. from the standpoint of the israeli economy, which is a net importer of commodities and energy, the changes in commodity prices were reflected in improved terms of trade, which led to a significant increase in the current account surplus. the increase in the current account contributed to appreciation pressure on the real exchange rate, which for its part weakened the competitive ability of the israeli economy and contributed to the slowdown of growth in exports and of growth in general. with the decline of “ surplus growth ”, or the growth gap between israel and its main trading partners, the pressure for continued real appreciation weakened. throughout this process, the composition of growth changed, with the contribution of surplus exports declining while the contribution of private consumption to economic activity increased. bis central bankers ’ speeches these developments took place while inflation was very low, affected by global commodity and fuel prices and by government - initiated price decreases, and to a certain extent by the appreciation of the shekel. monetary policy has operated against this background. the monetary committee adopted a very accommodative monetary policy this year as well, leaving the interest rate at an historic low of 0. 1 percent, and announced that in its assessment the interest rate will remain low for a considerable time. in addition, the bank of israel continued to purchase foreign exchange as part of two programs it is running – the program intended to offset the effects of natural gas production on the current account, and the program to moderate fluctuations that are not consistent with the basic economic forces. in view of the fact that the effective exchange rate is appreciated relative to equilibrium according to various estimates, it continues to pose difficulties for export growth and for the tradable sector. exchange rate policy operated in the past and will continue to operate with determination in the future in order to assist growth in exports. the monetary committee ’ s announcement of its assessment that monetary policy would remain accommodative for a considerable time, which means that the committee ’ s assessment is that it would not raise the interest rate immediately after the interest rate increase in the us, which is what actually happened when the interest rate in the us was raised in december, also serves as a counterforce to the forces for appreciation. the cpi figure for april and the disappointing growth figures for the first quarter that were published this week

trend in the industry. companies that will bring advanced technologies to israel will require domestic contractors to streamline as well, and will also contribute in the long term to an increase in the wages of domestic workers in the industry. last year, i also spoke to this honorable forum about productivity, and i focused on a number of sources for the disappointing increase in output per work hour in most industries in the business sector in the past two decades. i focused on the low stock of capital per worker, on the low level of infrastructure, and on the low government investment in r & d. in addition, i related to a number of opportunities for improving public services through investment in physical and human infrastructure in them, as well as to reinforce the policy of narrowing gaps and integrate various population groups in the labor market. we can go back and talk about these problems and challenges, which have certainly not been solved in one year, this year as well. but this time, i would like to expand the discussion on the structural issues that have an impact on productivity picture. these mostly do not involve a marked increase in budgets, but mainly involve streamlined processes and creating changes, some of which may negatively impact the profitability of certain groups in the economy. therefore, it is relatively difficult to make them. the updated doing business report by the world bank shows that israel fell to 53rd place in the easiness ( or difficulty ) of doing business here, from 26th place in 2007. this is a result of worsening bureaucratic conditions in israel, and of the reforms in cleansing regulation that were implemented in other economies. among all oecd countries, israel is in 31st place out of 34 countries – fourth worse after turkey, greece and luxembourg, and beneath all the others. our weakness is particularly prominent in the areas of opening, registering and licensing businesses, building permits, tax payment processes, and barriers to international trade. barriers and restrictions on the trade of commodities and services were also noted in the oecd report on israel as being particularly high. by the way, our strengths are reflected in the protection of small investors, and in the relative ease of closing businesses. ( it ’ s too bad this is not true of opening them. ) in order to illustrate the types of problems that make it difficult to do business in israel, we can focus on the “ tax payment index ”. an analysis of the sub - indices of this parameter shows that despite the fact that the tax rate on businesses operating in israel is