Educated Immigrants Offer Israel Rosy Future

DESPITE the present turbulence, the prospect of peace and the continuing stream of educated immigrants are setting the stage for a rosy economic future in Israel, the International Monetary Fund says in its annual report released this week.

``Israel presently enjoys the basic preconditions for high and sustainable medium-term economic growth,'' the IMF report says. ``These include a skilled and rapidly growing labor force, an environment of greater macro-economic stability, and an improved geopolitical situation very different from that which had ... restricted market access and inhibited foreign investment.''

The report is critical of the slow pace of structural economic reform in Israel. Although the government says it is committed to selling off state-owned companies and freeing up the market, the IMF says faster reforms ``would perhaps be the single policy area that could most readily improve Israel's image abroad.''