The Bank of Israel will probably lower its benchmark lending rate tomorrow to a record 0.5 percent as Governor Stanley Fischer seeks to shore up flagging economic growth.

The rate will be cut by half a point from 1 percent, according to seven out of eight economists surveyed by Bloomberg. The other expects a reduction of three-quarters of a point.

The Jerusalem-based central bank will announce its decision at 5:30 p.m. local time tomorrow.

“Fischer has hinted he doesn’t want to hit zero,” said Jonathan Katz, a Jerusalem-based economist at HSBC Holdings Plc. “There are two likely scenarios. One is that he’ll cut by 0.75 point and that will be the bottom. The other is that he’ll cut half a point and a further quarter point the following month. I think he’ll do the latter.”

Fischer has reduced the base rate by 3.25 points since the beginning of October as the economy slows and the inflation outlook improves. Inflation, which eased to an annual 3.3 percent in January, will probably fall below the government’s 1 percent to 3 percent target this year, according to the bank’s latest survey of economists.

The economy will probably contract 0.2 percent this year, its first decline since 2002, according to the Bank of Israel. The bank’s index of leading economic indicators fell 1.2 percent in January, its sixth straight decline, the central bank said Feb. 19, saying the trend pointed to a recession.

Fischer said at a conference last week that he is exploring options to support the economy now that the base lending rate in close to zero. He didn’t provide details.

The bank in December began to offer banks longer-term loans and deposits and last week began buying government bonds with the aim of increasing liquidity available to the country’s financial system and reducing long-term interest rates.

Last week, Israel’s benchmark 5.5 percent Mimshal Shiklit bond due in 2017 gained 2.3 percent to 113.94, with the yield falling 36 basis points to 4.22 percent. The shekel lost 2 percent as of Feb. 19 to 4.1425 to the dollar from 4.0616 a week earlier.

The Tel Aviv Stock Exchange’s benchmark TA-25 Index edged up 0.1 percent to 688.60, its fourth weekly gain. Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., the world’s biggest maker of generic drugs, was the top gainer for the week, adding 9.1 percent after it beat analysts’ estimates by 2 cents a share to show a fourth-quarter profit of 76 cents.

Ormat Industries Ltd., a maker and operator of geothermal turbines, followed with a 4 percent advance.

Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni told her Kadima party Feb. 19 that she wouldn’t join a government led by the Likud’s Benjamin Netanyahu and instead would go into opposition. She spoke after two parties Livni and Netanyahu were vying to recruit as coalition partners recommended to President Shimon Peres that he name Netanyahu to form the next government.