London CNN —In late September, as Israel’s nearly year-long war widened and its credit rating was downgraded yet again, the country’s finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, said that, while Israel’s economy was under strain, it was resilient. Israel’s economy could shrink even more than that, based on a worst-case estimate by the Institute for National Security Studies at Tel Aviv University. Before the October 7 attack and ensuing Israel-Hamas war, the International Monetary Fund forecast that Israel’s economy would grow by an enviable 3.4% this year. Smotrich, the finance minister, is confident that Israel’s economy will bounce back once the war ends, but economists are concerned the damage will far outlast the conflict. Florion Goga/ReutersOther sectors of Israel’s economy, while less important than tech, have been hit much harder.

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