"They once said that the Prime Minister was obsessed with vaccinations, so I experienced this obsession in the last two weeks in reducing the price increases - it sat on my head, and rightly so," said Finance Minister Smotrich of Prime Minister Netanyahu at the press conference, where the two announced a series of measures to address in rising prices in the economy.
It must be said that Netanyahu was determined to promote the measures that were introduced during the election period, so that, unlike many politicians, it can be said unequivocally: he promised and he kept it.
The measures presented will of course not stop the wave of price increases which is mostly influenced by inflation abroad, and they certainly will not reduce the high cost of living in Israel, but it is a first step in the right direction, which is mainly intended to send a reassuring message to the public - not even two weeks have passed since the government was formed and here we are announcing on an emergency plan for the economy.
Beyond the reassuring message, the importance of which should not be underestimated, the program's steps will lead to savings of between 600 and 800 shekels on average per family, according to Chen Herzog, the chief economist of "BDO".
That is, a decrease of between NIS 50 and 66 per month for an average household.
Is this something that will help a family whose only mortgage has become more expensive by a thousand shekels a month, and most of the products in the supermarket have become more expensive by about 5%-15% in the last year?
probably not.
Prime Minister Netanyahu presents the plan to fight the cost of living, photo: PM
But it should be understood that the ability of the new government to go in more significant directions - such as, for example, the complete freeze of the electricity and water tariff or increasing the credit points for working parents, as Lieberman did in the plan he presented less than a year ago together with Bennett, is very limited.
In the absence of an approved state budget, the Ministry of Finance had to look for creative solutions to finance the program, which costs two billion shekels.
This is in contrast to the change government's plan to lower the cost of living which cost the economy NIS 4.5 billion and the main cost was the increase in credit points for working parents.
Why didn't they go for it now?
It is also possible due to the lack of funding sources, but also due to the composition of the coalition - such a step will not be relevant to the ultra-orthodox public.
Apparently in an attempt to "inflate" the plan along with the actual measures, measures were also introduced that were not at all related to government activity, but were automatically updated at the beginning of the year as a result of the increase in the index or the average wage in the economy.
This is an update of the income tax brackets, an increase in the National Insurance benefits and a reduction in the provisions for National Insurance contributions and health tax.
In conclusion, we note that Netanyahu promised that the continuation will come and with the submission of the budget additional measures will be announced, and there is good reason to assume that this will indeed happen.
What else is on the agenda?
Free education for 3-0 year olds, solutions to the housing crisis, reforms to deregulate the economy and encourage competition in the food and consumer goods sector, and perhaps also the distribution of the food stamps that Deri promised during the Shas election campaign.
were we wrong
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