Israel’s Price Control Commission has approved increases in the prices of a variety of locally produced goods from soft drinks to television sets in which there is an import factor. Television sets go up by 5 1/2 percent, washing machines by 6 percent and refrigerators by 8 percent. Previously the committee had approved the post-devaluation prices for Israeli assembled cars and the rise there is about 10 percent. In addition, several materials used in building are going up in price.
According to an estimate by Israel’s central Bureau of Statistics, prices at the end of ISM will be 11 percent higher than at the beginning of the year and an additional rise of 10 percent is forecast for next year. Since the devaluation there has been an average price rise of 3 1/2 percent. Such an increase in the cost of living is unprecedented since Israel’s galloping inflation in the early 1950’s when mass immigration from North Africa resulted in a shortage of goods. The effect of the devaluation on prices has not yet reached its full momentum, according to the Bureau’s report and is expected to gather force for another three or four months.
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