​(Communicated by the Prime Minister's Media Adviser)
 
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, this morning (Sunday, 3 April 2016), received the Bank of Israel 2015 Annual Report from Bank of Israel Governor Dr. Karnit Flug.
 
Prime Minister Netanyahu:
 
"I am pleased to hear that we are at an all-time low for unemployment, and are at high, full, employment, and this is pushing wages upward.
 
This is important but I think that we need to push growth higher and to this end we have started historic negotiations with China on a free trade agreement, which will greatly increase exports. We are in parallel discussions with Japan on a most-favored nation trade agreement, and we need to extract the gas from the sea. This will inject many billions into state coffers and for consumers in the State of Israel.
 
I thank you very much."
 
Bank of Israel Governor Dr. Karnit Flug:
 
"I would like to say that the economic situation is, overall, reasonable relative to the complex global environment. All in all, the labor market is in a good situation, unemployment is low, employment has increased, wages have risen, and the good economic situation allows us to focus policy on matters that we really need to focus on and this is the long term. I think that this will also free us to focus on the next budget and our major challenges. May we be successful."