The Budget Department in the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Economy and Industry agreed to reduce the cut to the Ministry's budget in order to assist the growth of businesses in the periphery, so that by the end of the year an additional NIS 240 million will be added to the Ministry of Economy and Industry. The original cut that the Ministry of Economy planned to make in the Ministry of Economy as part of the budget adjustments for the war was about half a billion shekels. Last week, Minister Barkat threatened to vote against the budget in the Knesset to protest the cut in his ministry's budget, and as a result the prime minister spoke with him and promised to find a solution to the problem. Barkat, as is known, did not come to a vote on the first reading of the budget.
The pressure worked. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tours with Elon Musk in the village of Gaza, photo: Amos Ben-Gershom / GPO
According to the agreement, a total of NIS 240 million will be invested in developing local industry, and by the end of 2023, NIS 93 million will be added to the Ministry of Economy for investments in industry and raising human capital in the periphery, NIS 50 million for essential vocational training during the war, NIS 67 million for developing industrial zones in the periphery, NIS 15 million for implementing advanced production in Israeli industry, NIS 11.5 million for the Small and Medium Business Agency at the Ministry of Economy – in order to assist small and medium-sized businesses and realize their rights during the war and accompany evacuees in hotels.
NIS 2 million will be allocated to the Growth Administration and NIS 1 million to the Foreign Trade Administration in the Ministry of Economy to encourage exports from the periphery.
Barkat will vote in favor of the budget in the following readings
At the start of the Cabinet meeting on Sunday morning, Economy Minister Nir Barkat said: "I am pleased to announce that we have reached agreements with the Ministry of Finance on an additional NIS 240 million for assistance to businesses in the periphery and growth during the war, as I requested. I thank the Prime Minister, the Minister of Finance, the members of the Budget Department and the Chairman of the Economy Committee David Bitan. Alongside the victory on the battlefield, I set a goal of victory in the economic field. It is our duty to save businesses in the periphery and in the war zones and to preserve our economy, which will emerge stronger from the war. Together we will win."
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