Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Minister of Finance Yair Lapid met yesterday to try and bridge the gap before submitting the 2015 budget. The meeting ended inconclusively with Lapid continuing to oppose increasing the defense budget by NIS 11 billion as the Defense Ministry is demanding. The failure in efforts to reach an agreement is delaying approval of the 2015 budget. At the moment no future discussions in the cabinet have been fixed and uncertainty prevails regarding the date for approving the budget. In the coming weeks Netanyahu will be required to rule on the issue and cabinet discussions on the matter will probably be postponed until after the holidays. Netanyahu will be in New York between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur to address the UN General Assembly, and discussions will only resume after that. RELATED ARTICLES Budget talks could be delayed until after holidays Whatever happened to the Treasury's NIS 16b surplus? The Ministry of Finance vehemently opposes the Defense Ministry demands to increase its budget by NIS 11 billion in 2015 as part of the conclusions drawn after Operation Protective Edge. The Ministry of Finance insists that only NIS 8 billion need by added to the defense budget and that it has no intention of granting the entire sum to the Ministry of Defense. Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on September 9, 2014 © Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2014
