From the Liveblog of
Monday, October 30, 2023
Warning of economic crisis, 300 senior economists urge reallocation of government spending
Sharon Wrobel is a tech reporter for The Times of Israel.
A group of about 300 senior economists appeal in a letter to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Finance Minister Smotrich to immediately remove all nonessential expenditure items from the state budget, in order to cope with a looming economic crisis during war.
“You do not understand the magnitude of the economic crisis that Israel’s economy is facing,” they warn in the letter. “Continuation of the current conduct harms Israel’s economy, undermines citizens’ trust in the public system, and undermines the State of Israel’s ability to recover from the situation it has found itself in.”
Among the signatories of the letter are Prof. Jacob Frenkel, former governor of the Bank of Israel; Rony Hezkiyahu, former Bank of Israel supervisor of banks and accountant general; Yair Avidan, former supervisor of banks; Haim Shani, former Finance Ministry director general; Prof. Eugene Kandel, former chairman of the National Economic Council; former deputy governor of the Bank of Israel Prof. Eitan Sheshinski; and Prof. Leo Leiderman of Tel Aviv University.
In the letter they call for a fundamental change in the order of national priorities and a massive diversion of funding toward dealing with the damages of the war, aid to victims, and the restoration of the economy — costs that are estimated at tens of billions of shekels.
“At the same time, the budget for the year 2024 must be opened and updated based on a set of priorities that reflects the needs of the entire economy in light of the war,” they urge in the letter.
