Interest rates on the rise? "A large part of the population does not have difficulties" - voila! Of money

The Supervisor of Banks, Yair Avidan (in black tie) in his appearance before the Finance Committee (Photo: Walla! System, Yanon Shalom Yatah)

At the Finance Committee's discussion on mortgages,

attacked the claims about the interest rate increase:

"I'm about to say unpopular things (...) At the moment, there doesn't seem to be a very widespread difficulty (following the price increase). This month is the peak of credit card consumption , but we are thinking about tools and talking about the possibilities of the system."

Avidan added: "In a world where private consumption is increasing to a significant extent, probably a large segment of the population is not struggling. We have no tools to interfere with banks and pricing. There is a problem here of individuals from the public who are struggling and they have a solution."

And what about those details?

Avidan settled for a general answer: "We are super sensitive and think about what can be done, at the moment we don't have a better solution than the one we used."

Avidan

Perhaps the fact that he will soon leave his position allows him to say "unpopular things" as he defines them (Photo: Reuven Castro)

Avidan's words reflect frustration among many at the top of the Bank of Israel who feel that in the hands of the public (whether due to savings accumulated during the Corona period or due to the positive effect of high-tech on the incomes of many Israeli citizens) there is a lot of money that translates into an increase in consumption despite the interest rate increases that were supposed to curb it (a similar phenomenon to the one that is also seen in the United States for example).

This is the reason why inflation is not curbed despite the continuous interest rate hikes, while the focus on the issue, naturally, focuses on the victims of the interest rate hikes - mainly mortgage borrowers while sharply criticizing the Bank of Israel.

Avidan is scheduled to finish his post soon, which apparently makes it easier for him to say things as they are under paying lip service to the populist line held by many members of the Knesset, including members of the Finance Committee.

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