Israel Chemicals Ltd. (TASE: ICL) has responded to the revised recommendations of the Committee for the Review of Policy with Respect to Royalties on Natural Resources (Sheshinski 2), and has called on the government not to adopt them blindly, arguing that they will harm the company and oblige it to wind up investments in Israel.
"Today, the Ministry of Finance is receiving a very significant report with far-reaching negative consequences for the future of the Negev, unemployment, industry and the economy in Israel," Israel Chemicals says, "This is a report that arouses controversy even among the members of the committee itself, who have not debated or dealt with the consequences of its conclusions for unemployment and the ability to maintain a strong population in the Negev.
"The minister of finance must take all these things into account, and understand that adopting the report's recommendations will make him responsible for the severe outcome for unemployment, for a social, human and industrial crisis in the Negev, and for a severe blow to the Negev and the economy in general. Courage and a sense of national responsibility are required in order to withstand the wave of populism and to look the workers in the eye and promise them that the committee's conclusions will be examined in the light of the unemployment they will cause and their effects on investment in the south. We hope that social sensitivity and common sense will be the lenses through which these conclusions will be reviewed before they are adopted blindly, to the cheers of those who see bringing about the collapse of Israel Chemicals as the solution to all the economy's ills."
MK Micky Rosenthal (Labor) attacked Israel Chemicals, saying, "The government must not surrender to Israel Chemicals' threats. The company controlled by the Ofer family has turned feeling sorry for itself into a policy. Not only is the Dead Sea a gold mine for the company; the company's own sea of tears brings it billions."
Rosenthal recalled that Israel Chemicals earned about NIS 3 billion last year, and that it distributed a dividend of NIS 2.3 billion in mid-year and a further $47 million recently, and also that the pay of the group's senior executives has risen.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on October 20, 2014
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