Since the end of the recession, this measure of productivity has increased at a 1.4 percent annual rate, well below the average rate over the five decades before the recession. So a good portion of the recent slowing of GDP growth is also attributable to slower productivity growth.
We lowered the Bank of Israel’s rate as inflation was dropping, to reach 0.1% in March of 2015 when 12 month inflation reached what turned out to be its lowest point at –1%.