The weight of the housing item in the Consumer Price Index will be increased to 25% at the expense of the food, transportation, and communications items, according to the new index composition for the next two years published by the Central Bureau of Statistics last Thursday.
The reason for the increased weight of the housing item is the increase in rents and mortgage interest rates. The weight of the home maintenance item fell from 9.8% of the index to 9.3%.
Central Bureau of Statistics calculations, based on surveys, show that as of now, a family in Israel spends an average of NIS 18,636 a month, NIS 3,212 of which consists of taxes (income tax, health tax, and National Insurance payments). Regular spending therefore averages NIS 15,424 (excluding gambling and donations).
The main spending items are housing (24.9%), transportation and communications (19.3%), food (13.7%), education, culture and entertainment (11.8%), and home maintenance (9.3%).
According to the Central Bureau of Statistics surveys, the average spending per family on health is a relatively low 5.8% of total monthly spending.
Published by Globes [online], Israel Business News - www.globes-online.com - on February 12, 2017
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