Minister of Finance Yair Lapid has rejected the budget proposal drawn up by Ministry of Finance officials, and asked them to offer alternatives for the necessary budget cuts.
The Budget Department began working on the 2013 budget almost a year ago, in mid-2012, since at the time it was thought that the Knesset elections would be held in September 2012.
Lapid has been sharing with the media his discontent with the proposals raised by Ministry of Finance officials. An example is a press release on Monday, in which he said that he blocked harm to working women by rejecting a proposal to abolish the half tax credit point for working women, which would save the budget NIS 700 million a year.
Yesterday, Lapid promised not to reduce the budget supplements for higher education included in the multiyear plan, and he promised students that tuition will not be raised and universities' budgets would not be cut.
Today, Lapid announced that he has asked Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to postpone a scheduled meeting to discuss the budget from tonight to tomorrow. Lapid said that the postponement was because of the longer than expected discussions at the Ministry of Finance and the wish to draw up more alternatives for the pending budget cuts.
Lapid's bureau declined to elaborate on the reasons for postponing Lapid's meeting with Netanyahu, and directed callers to the press release.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on April 10, 2013
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