Impact on Israel’s Economy
ICL’s Impact on the Negev Region
ICLs’ impact on the economy and quality of life in the Negev region is far-reaching, and the company serves as the economic backbone of the Negev. ICL supports the livelihood of approx. 32,000 families in Israel (directly and indirectly), including approx. 19,000 families in the Negev region of south Israel. ICL is responsible for 15% of the Negev’s economic activity, worth approx. ILS10.7 billion ($2.95 billion) in GDP. The Company is vital for the economic strength of this region and for its continued growth.
Direct and Indirect Employment
ICL is directly responsible for the livelihood of 4,200 families in the Negev. The Company is a quality employer, which pays competitive wages or higher in all Israel (and in all other global regions of operations) .In addition, the impact of its work and investment in the Negev influences all the communities of the eastern Negev in multiple areas, including small industrial enterprises, privately-owned businesses, commerce, welfare, education and culture. As for every direct ICL employee, additional employment opportunities are created. These include the indirect impact of ICL’s suppliers (2.7 additional jobs created in Israel per each ICL employee) and the induced impact created due to increased consumption by ICL employees and suppliers (3.4 additional jobs created in Israel per each ICL employee).
ICL’s Impact on the Negev Region
All in all, ICL has significant impact on multiple levels of employment in Israel. This includes the direct impact of 4,500 jobs; the indirect impact of an additional 12,200 jobs; and the induced impact of an additional 15,100 jobs; In total: 31,800 jobs.
Some areas in the Southern part of Israel are characterized by lower employment opportunities and high economic inequality. This is especially true in some of the periphery cities of Southern Israel and the Bedouin communities.
In the periphery cities of the eastern Negev (Dimona, Yeruham and Arad), ICL’s activity results in 12% of employment and 21% of wages.
ICL supports the livelihood of approx. 5,600 Bedouin-Israeli employees, mostly as contractor workers employed by ICL’s direct contractors in varying capacities. These employees account for approx. 16% of all Bedouin-Israeli employees that are employed in the Israeli private sector. ICL is also acting to increase the amount of Bedouin-Israeli employees and overall Arab-Israeli employees directly employed in the company, and has set quantitative targets to achieve this important goal, and further reduce inequalities in the Israeli society (read more here)
Economic Impact
ICL’s contribution to Israel’s national economy stands at ILS 14.9 billion ($4.1 billion) for 2019.
The contribution of ICL plants in southern Israel amounts to 15% of the GDP of the Negev region and to 1.2% of the GDP of Israel (2019 figures). ICL’s contribution to the GDP of Israel is about ILS 14.9 billion ($4.1 billion) a year, of which approx. ILS 10.7 billion ($ 2.95) in the Negev.
In addition to impacting the Negev’s economy, ICL helps the development of tourism to the Dead Sea, enabling the creation of thousands of additional jobs. Without ICL’s production activity in the Dead Sea, the southern basin of the Dead Sea would have dried up completely, and the Dead Sea hotels could not have been operated. Read more…
ICL invests in Israel on top of its extensive ongoing operations. Together, these investments help expand economic activity in Israel and boost its growth.
The grand majority of the quantitative data above is based on a study performed by BDO and Published July 2020 : ‘ICL’s contribution to Israel’s economy and its Southern region’,(Hebrew).
ICL’s Impact on the Balance of Payments
ICL is consistently among the top 3 largest exporting companies in Israel. The export value of its products is significant for Israel’s balance of payments and the reduction of the State’s trade deficit.
ICL’s Impact on the Public Savings
The public is the largest shareholder of ICL. In fact, most Israeli citizens have a direct and indirect stake in ICL through their pension and provident fund savings plans, as well as other saving and investment channels. As one of the strongest pillars of the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, ICL shares are an anchor in many stock portfolios and the trading volume of its shares is one of the highest in Israel. Over the past decade, most Israeli citizens have had a share of ICL profits.
ICL Impact on Israeli Government Budget
In Israel, ICL is paying a significant portion of its profits to the government. ICL has multiple payments to the state of Israel as a result of the Company’s operations, including taxes, royalties related to extraction of potash and other minerals, and additional amounts.
ICL payments to the Israeli government are expected to increase even further due to various measures taken by Israel’s government, such as: exclusion from the Law for the Encouragement of Capital Investments; funding of the national project for ensuring the existence of the Dead Sea Hotels; increase of royalties from mining and royalties on industrial products; and the recommendations for additional taxation by the Sheshinski Committee II (natural resources taxation).
