Gal Hershkovitz (former Finance Ministry budget officer) in an interview with Tal Shalev, May 24, 5 (stills: Niv Aharonson)
"Coalition funds are wrong for a simple reason and that is because they are wrong in terms of priorities. There have always been coalition agreements and always will be, it was always wrong and this time even more," former Finance Ministry budget department chief Gal Hershkovitz said in an interview on Walla!'s "His Weekend" program.
A day after approving the state budget for 2023-2024, which includes a record sum of more than NIS 13 billion distributed to coalition partners, Hershkovitz says that "the problem is not the amount of money, but where it goes." "When everyone talks, 'You gave money to Arabs and ultra-Orthodox,' that's simply not true. The money should go to the Arab and Haredi populations – and in both of them it is important that their employment rate increase and at a wage that is appropriate – and high. Everyone has its own barriers. The money should go in large sums here and there, but for training and studies – and not for issues that block employment and education, which is the parameter that will determine the earning potential index."
"Coalition finances are wrong in terms of priorities." Hershkovitz (Photo: Niv Aharonson)
Hershkovitz, now the owner and CEO of Citrin, says that the budget should be examined in three parameters: "The first is the budgetary frameworks, whether they are correct, the second is how the money is distributed, and the third is structural changes, major reforms, improving the cost of living, and so on. Regarding the first part, apart from an increase in the expenditure ceiling, we see an expansionary budget in the Ministry of Finance. Alongside revenues, we see a forecast of future revenues, reflecting a relatively low deficit and a slowdown in tax revenues, which will require a change in the forecast in the future. Still, if this happens in terms of budgetary frameworks, it will be a budget that will meet all the rules and there is no breach of the expenditure ceiling. In terms of the expenditure ceiling, there are more expenditures and a reasonable deficit. The good news in terms of reforms, like what was in the cellular system at the time, is that there are – but not enough. Some of the areas were excluded from the Arrangements Law; And the day after the budget, the government will have to roll up its sleeves and there is much more to be done. What is not done within the framework of the Arrangements Law must continue to be done and not wait for the next budget."
Referring to the attacks by senior coalition officials on the professional echelon in the Ministry of Finance and their disregard for their warnings about the long-term implications of the increased budgets for yeshivas and Haredi education on Haredi employment, Hershkovitz says that "in terms of the rules of the game between the professional and political echelons, it is the duty of the professional echelon to present the alternatives. However, once the political echelon makes a decision, it is the job of the professional echelon to implement it. In the end, it's not zero or a hundred – if the professional echelon thinks that it is becoming completely irrelevant, or that some step will be taken whose impact on the economy is liable to be destructive, then it can draw its conclusions." He added, "In general, I think that the professional echelon, and the Ministry of Finance and the Budget Department in particular, have had a great influence, and it can be said that over the past decade the results of the Israeli economy have been good and even very good. All in all, when you look back, the influence of the professional echelon is clear, and without that, the pendulum would have swung elsewhere. Of course, it's never perfect, but it's very important for the economy and for citizens that the influence of the professional echelon continues."
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- Gal Hershkovitz
- Ministry of Finance
- State budget
- Haredim
- Arabs
