Ahead of tomorrow's scheduled cabinet vote on the budget, the socioeconomic cabinet is meeting today to approve the structural reforms in the framework of the Economic Arrangements bill. At the start of the discussion, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, "The budget we'll bring to the cabinet tomorrow is a balanced and responsible one. I've passed more than a dozen budgets as prime minister and Minister of Finance, and I always know what will happen - everyone has demands. The demands are always greater than what there is to give, but we always make the right decisions eventually - we'll do it this time, too. Israel will have a budget, because there won't be a government otherwise, and our economic and security situation will deteriorate. I rely on the ministers' collective responsibility. We'll pass the budget tomorrow at the cabinet meeting."
Netanyahu added, "We're convening the cabinet today to discuss a series of reforms that are also important for reducing the cost of living - a key goal of this government and also to ensure that growth continues. Lowering the cost of living reflects first and foremost a series of reforms aimed at cutting food prices: the cornflakes reform, which we are leading in the Prime Minister's Office, concerns many food products across the market. We're also making a lot of changes in what is called the supply of housing in order to increase the inventory of housing in Israel.
"In the end, this is the only way to lower prices. We’re doing things to lower the cost of health services in Israel, supplementary insurance, private insurance - that will affect a lot of families by hundreds of shekels; it's not a small matter. We’re also taking steps towards progress in the natural gas sector, which is so vital. First of all, the factories will be connected to gas; what's the point in having gas if it doesn't reach its target?"
The prime minister went on to say, "The reforms being proposed here concern all of these things, and many other things as well. I think that Israel has been wise to choose the economic path we've followed for many years, without stumbling into the pitfalls that have trapped other countries not far away from us. We have to not only continue avoiding these missteps; we also have to continue our upward climb. The budget, what we're doing here in the cabinet today, is designed to achieve these goals - continued growth and a further drop in prices."
Minister of Finance Moshe Kahlon added, "As the prime minister said, we're submitting reforms for tomorrow's budget, really significant reforms. I think we haven't seen reforms of such scope and depth in recent years. As the prime minister said, we have reforms here in financial banking, the cost of living, food, removal of obstacles, elimination of customs duties that have burdened consumers in Israel, and are still doing so. I have no doubt that we'll get the ministers' support, because this, I repeat what the prime minister said, is a social and responsible budget, responsible and social, that really makes the person the main thing, together with responsibility for the growth of the economy, creating jobs, narrowing gaps, bringing the outlying areas closer to the center, in infrastructure, housing, and of course in education."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on August 4, 2015
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