Liberman: ‘There is no Israeli economic crisis, there is a global economic crisis’

Yisrael Beytenu chief Avigdor Liberman, who served as finance minister in the last coalition, slams the current government for blaming him for the country’s economic woes.

“There isn’t an Israeli economic crisis, there’s a global economic crisis,” says Liberman at a Yisrael Beytenu faction meeting. Liberman says the data released yesterday showing 5.3% inflation in Israel for 2022 is “exactly what our ministry predicted… and while we need to lower inflation, there are only two countries in the world with lower inflation rates — Japan and Switzerland,” Liberman claims.

According to Forbes, there are many countries with inflation rates lower than Israel’s, though it does rank on the lower end.

Liberman says the coalition agreements that underpin the current government “are endangering the Israeli economy,” singling out raising payments to Haredi men who study Torah instead of incentivizing them to work.