Barkat's promises are really beautiful - but will he live up to them?
Nir Barkat promised that his tenure as Finance Minister would raise Israel to the top ten in the world in terms of per capita GDP. His plan really includes beautiful things - a shame there is no way he can realize it
Barkat's promises are really beautiful - but will he live up to them?
Credit: "Likud" Facebook(Video: Netanyahu promises to appoint Barkat as finance minister)
I heard that Nir Barkat spoke in the Ecclesiastical Forum and promised that 10 years after he was appointed Minister of Finance, Israel would be one of the 10 countries with the highest GDP per capita. I am definitely in favor, but I hope that before Nir Barkat approaches his plans, he will check his data again. Because according to what he said, Mr. Barkat believes that per capita GDP in Israel is the 18th highest in the world. But as you can see from the following chart, which is based on World Bank data, Israel's per capita GDP is only 25th.
More in Walla! NEWS More in Walla! NEWSHigh prices aren't the whole story: why so expensive here?
To the full articleMore in Walla! NEWS
The disruptions have returned to the Korean automotive industry, and this will not affect Israel too much like Apple: That's why the chip industry manages to mitigate the corona injury Interpretation: A series of errors in the project was big on Israel Railways Baruch Shaftano: The safest method to get rid of nail polish earlierFigure 1: GDP per capita (dollars). Source: World Bank.
Product per capita (Photo: PR, PR)
In fact, the 25th place is a little too high, because a proper comparison has to be made when considering the prices in the different countries, so that it does not show that the product of a particular country is high just because the prices there are high. If we compare Israel's product with that of other countries when prices are fixed, then Israel is down to 35. What to do is what happens when prices are high.
What is interesting is that the members of the Economic Department of the Ecclesiastical Forum certainly know the material, and those who head it, Dr. Michael Israel, have never been afraid to persuade politicians of their mistakes. Nevertheless, Dr. Israel and his people have not corrected Mr. Barkat. Maybe because they thought it was pointless, and that during the election period politicians just wouldn't let the facts confuse them.
If we ignore for a moment Mr. Barkat's mistakes about the facts, his plans certainly look good. Because Mr. Barkat puts the emphasis on the following: opening the market to competition and reducing the bureaucracy, turning the periphery into a national growth, upgrading medical services, investing in national infrastructure, and national service similar to a national service that will reach 100% participation.
So for each of the steps Barkat offers, I must say: I wish, and artist. But I don't see them happening so quickly in the government that it will be the finance minister. First of all, I do not know how he intends to make the periphery prevent national growth. In any way he does not intend to do it, for this to happen, three things have to happen. One, massive investment in transportation infrastructure. The second is changing the way cities are built today, so that neighborhoods are a pleasant place to live, and that shopping and sending children to school and classes can be done without even getting into the car. Third, a massive investment in education in the periphery, with an emphasis on the Arab and ultra-Orthodox sectors, two sectors that, to date, really do not receive the education required for Israel to grow quickly.
More in business More in businessDiscover the magic of a business event in "Falls"
In collaboration with "Waterfalls"
To the full articleBroadcast to Netanyahu from 2005
The upgrading of health services certainly sounds good, but to date Israel simply does not train enough doctors. In a few years, when the generation of doctors who emigrated from Russia in the 1990s retired, there would even be a significant shortage of doctors. So without a very creative solution, the shortage of doctors will lead to a rise in the prices of medicine in Israel, and a decline in quality for anyone who cannot pay.
So I really hope that Baraket has the plans to do everything he promises, as well as the political backing to divert budgets from education settlements in Arab communities, to deal with pressure groups that will not open the market for import, and also to enable the ultra-Orthodox to study English, science (including biology, Where there is such a subject called evolution), and mathematics. It will certainly improve the standard of living in Israel. But even if he does it all, Israel will not be one of the 10 countries with the highest GDP per capita in 10 years.
That promise is not even original - Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised the same in 2005. As you can learn from the fact that Nir Barkat promises the same thing, Netanyahu's promise has not been fulfilled. But even if Barkat does it all, to enter the list of 10 countries with the highest per capita GDP in the world (even if we remove Monaco and Macau from the list), Israel should bypass Australia's per capita GDP. For that, per capita GDP in Israel needs to grow 3% faster every year than in Australia. And that even an excellent treasury minister cannot achieve without help from above.
Dr. Avihai Snir - Netanya Academic College and Infinity Investment House
