Exposure at all costs: The secret plan to fight the cost of living

Walla !: Will the reports of the large food companies and manufacturers, which are not traded on the stock exchange, be revealed soon?

Liat Ron

27/01/2022

Thursday, 27 January 2022, 08:17 Updated: 09:32

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The cost of living has become one of the issues that preoccupies the Israeli public, who are forced to look helpless, at food giants - manufacturers and importers like Osem, Snow, Strauss, Diplomat, Shestovich and others - who own almost all the brands that make up our shopping cart, raising prices or informing retailers about They intend to raise prices soon, in a country that is already one of the most expensive in the world.

One of the problems with these factors is the fact that unlike some of the retail chains (Shufersal, Rami Levy and others) whose profit level is visible, the profit line of the big food manufacturers and importers is not open to the public - thus preventing us from knowing whether a certain company will have to raise prices. , Or it makes even greater profits at the expense of the Israeli public, which pays for its supermarket purchases more than any other consumer in OECD countries.

Will the end soon dawn on the screen of secrecy behind which the manufacturers and importers of food in Israel are hiding?

Walla has learned that the chairman of the Economics Committee, MK Michael Bitton of Blue and White and MK Shlomo Kari of the Likud, intend to submit a joint bill soon to establish a "Financial Supervision Authority", which will also oversee the "Competition Authority". , Which holds the financial statements of the large private companies.

The committee will be able to demand full details of their profits and other financial data that are not transparent to the public and examine how much they affect the cost of living.

It will be recalled that a few months ago, the Competition Authority summoned large retailers and food manufacturers for questioning and, among other things, required them to present the data to it.

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MK Michael Bitton, Chairman of the Economics Committee.

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Background: The parliamentary inquiry committee that worked with the banks

The bill was born following the conclusions of the parliamentary inquiry committee set up in 2017 to examine the banks' conduct in granting credit to large business borrowers, headed by former MK Eitan Kabel, after the collapse of Eliezer Fishman's business

. Of the Supervisor of Banks, the Capital Market Authority and the Israel Securities Authority, banks and institutions, to disclose information and data that could shed light on the problematic conduct, due to trade secrecy and customer confidentiality, one of its conclusions was the urgent need to establish a committee to oversee financial regulators.

MK Shlomo Qara: Will he prove that when it comes to the war for the well-being of Israeli citizens, it is possible to cooperate with political opponents as well? (Photo: Reuven Castro)

Necessary cooperation between the coalition and the opposition

According to Bitton and Qarai's bill, a joint subcommittee will be established for the Knesset's Economics Committee and Finance Committee, which will appoint up to six Knesset members, in order to maintain a limited circle of parties who will be exposed to sensitive and confidential information.

In particularly sensitive cases, a subcommittee of a maximum of three members will be established.

The committee's deliberations will be confidential and it will have the authority to require the regulators to provide it with any information and document in their possession, notwithstanding confidential provisions set out in the law.

The committee may publish information or documents provided to it, if it is aware that it will not be published in order to impair the financial stability of the body in question, and after it has been given an opportunity to make its claims.

In the original bill, the "Financial Supervision Authority" was supposed to supervise only financial supervisory authorities, including the Supervisor of Banks, the Capital Market and Insurance Authority, and the Securities Authority. Following the current wave of price increases, the "Competition Authority" will also come under the supervision of the committee, which believes in maintaining the principles of competition in the economy and in enforcing the Economic Competition Law.

As part of its work, the Competition Authority is exposed to the financial reports of the largest food companies and producers in the economy, most of which are not traded on the Israel Stock Exchange - and therefore the public has no information on their sales and profit cycles. Such as excess profit or exorbitant prices, which affect the cost of living of the citizens of Israel

.

Bitton-Qara initiative: Have public officials finally been found who will take care of what is really important to the Israeli public? (Photo: ShutterStock)

If security discussions are kept secret, why not economic?

MK Bitton and Qarei are in fact proposing to replicate the model of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee's secret subcommittee that oversees the activities of the defense establishment and is exposed to confidential material. Citizens.

Will the law pass?

Since this is an extraordinary collaboration in the current Knesset between the coalition and the opposition, which have not worked together much since the formation of the current government, it is likely to have broad consensus in the legislature, as well as strong opposition from companies forced to be transparent.

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• Cost of living

• barn

• Snow

• diplomat

• Shestowitz

• Strauss

• Michael Bitton

• Shlomo Krai