The cost of living index rose by 19.5 percent during November, the Central Bureau of Statistics announced Friday. It was the first C.O.L. index published since the start of the three-month economic package deal freezing prices and wages, but it also covered price increases in the two weeks before the freeze agreement started.
The index announcement was greeted with mixed feelings, although there was general satisfaction that it was below 20 percent.
While some economists and business leaders saw it as heralding a successful outcome of the efforts to halt runaway inflation, others said the comparatively high figure indicated that manufacturers and merchants had artificialy raised their prices in the days before the price treeze halted such possibilities.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
