In about eight years, Israel’s exports “will come very close” to covering all of the country’s needs for foreign currency, Pinhas Sapir, Minister of Commerce and Industry, today told the Knesset here.
Speaking during the general debate on his Ministry budget, Mr. Sapir told the House that Israel’s exports have doubled in the last four years. When the State was established in 1948, he said, Israel exported only ten cents worth for each dollar’s worth of imports. Today, he said, the ratio of exports to import value is 50-50, and this ratio will rise to 75-25 in the next two years.
While these details of the growth of Israel’s exports were being reported by Mr. Sapir, Development Ministry sources disclosed that two Far Eastern countries have requested Israel to furnish quotations for the sale of 150,000 tons of phosphates. The domestic phosphate industry, it is understood, is able to make an offer for sale of these products on a competitive basis with offers from other countries.
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