International Monetary Fund pegs local economic growth over next 12 months at 3 percent • Israel ranks fifth on IMF’s favorable projections report, following China, India, the U.S., and Mexico • Forecast coincides with Bank of Israel’s growth projections.

A new report by the International Monetary Fund offered a favorable forecast for Israel’s economic growth in 2015, pegging it at 3 percent amid otherwise conservative projections for the global economy.

The IMF’s projections attributed the sluggish growth in Israel’s economy to the overall slowdown in Europe’s economy, as well as to Operation Protective Edge, waged in the Gaza Strip last summer. The projections coincide with the growth forecast released by the Bank of Israel on Dec. 29.

“Global growth is forecast to rise moderately in 2015-16, from 3.3 percent in 2014 to 3.5 percent in 2015 and 3.7 percent in 2016, revised down by 0.3 percent for both years relative to the October 2014 World Economic Outlook,” the IMF said Tuesday in a statement posted on its website.

Only four nations’ projections exceeded Israel’s growth forecast: China’s economic growth in 2015 was set at 6.8 percent, followed by India (6.3 percent), the United States (3.6 percent) and Mexico, whose economy is projected to grow by 3.2 percent.

For the rest of the story: Israel Hayom

Israel and Japan

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s historic three-day visit to Israel was ended hurriedly on Tuesday due to an Islamic State (ISIS) hostage crisis involving two Japanese nationals, but his visit highlights the meteoric developments in the Israeli-Japanese alliance that has been blossoming since Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s visit to Japan last May.

Just how have Israel and Japan gone from being average trade partners into full-blown allies, to the point where Netanyahu has said Israel is turning away from the West and towards Asia – and in particular towards Japan, owner of the world’s third largest GDP and a global leader in technology?

A brief look back at events since the May visit reveals numerous important developments that have received little limelight as the two nations have locked into a shared trajectory.

Last June the Director of the Israel Space Agency made a first-ever visit to Japan, where he held important talks with Japan’s space-related ministries and agencies.

Then a month later the Japanese Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry made his own first-ever trip to Israel, where the Israel-Japan Business Forum discussed joint investments in start-ups, hi-tech research and development (R&D) and cyber security.

That visit also included the historic signing of a Memorandum of Cooperation in the fields of industrial R&D between the two nations. Significantly, it was the first such industrial R&D agreement that Japan had ever signed with another country.

For the rest of the story go to Israel National News

Samsung, Verizon rush to invest in Israel’s ‘next WhatsApp’

Israeli start-up Rounds believes it is the future of live chat – and it’s backing up that claim with a newly-announced $12 million Series B round of funding.

It’s not just the money; it’s the group behind the investment, which includes the investment groups of communications and device giants Verizon and Samsung, with the round being led by Sequoia Capital – the sole investor in wildly popular chat app WhatsApp.

In fact, according to Rounds co-founder and CEO Dany Fishel, his app may just be the next WhatsApp. Like that popular chat app, Rounds lets you set up chat groups with friends, allowing any member of the group to communicate with others at the same time, or individually. The difference is that with Rounds, users get to see their friends, since the app utilizes not only text, but voice and video as well.

Samsung makes second big Israel investment in a week

Korean tech giant Samsung will invest $10 million in Israel patient monitoring firm EarlySense, part of a $20 million financing round.

“EarlySense has developed and brought to market a unique, breakthrough technology that will improve the lives of consumers through health parameter sensing and monitoring,” said Gonzalo Martinez de Azagra, head of Samsung Ventures Israel, the company’s investment arm. “Our investment is evidence of our belief in the need to bring sensors to hundreds of millions of consumers and we will do all that is in our hands to contribute to EarlySense’s accelerated growth.”

In business since 2004, EarlySense developed a system that monitors patients who are sick enough to require continuous tracking, but are unwilling or do not need to be connected physically to monitors and sensors. Designed for use in non-emergency room or even home settings, the system uses sensors embedded into a mattress or chair cushion to monitor heartbeat, respiration rate, and movement. It operates on the theory that the more a patient moves around in bed, the healthier they are, in general.

h/t to our friend and colleague Elder of Ziyon

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