Bank of ‘Israel’ Chief Warns Another Election Would Strike Blow to Economy

By Staff, Agencies

Bank of ‘Israel’ Governor Amir Yaron on Sunday called on the Zionist government to swiftly pass a budget and warned that new elections would have a negative impact on the economy, which is already reeling from the coronavirus pandemic.

The statement came as the occupation entity appeared to inch closer to a fourth set of elections in two years as lawmakers from coalition partners Likud and Blue and White began to openly bicker over the burgeoning budget crisis.

The government has until August 25 to approve a budget or it will automatically dissolve.

“The changing morbidity trends and developments in ‘Israel’ and around the world are causing great uncertainty regarding employment, businesses’ income and government intake and expenses,” Yaron said in a statement.

He said it was therefore important that there be “stability in the conduct of the government and an orderly decision-making process,” saying this would help reduce uncertainty for households and businesses.

“The government must move forward as quickly as possible in determining a clear outline for the budget and other economic decisions needed at this time,” Yaron added.

“Reducing the political uncertainty would contribute to the confidence of the markets in the ‘Israeli’ economy and improve the ability to deal with the crisis,” he said.

“Further elections would be negative news for the ‘Israeli’ economy at this time.”

As the coronavirus outbreak escalates, ‘Israel’ was put into a lockdown in mid-March that all but brought the economy to a standstill. Unemployment rocketed from around 5% to 26%, and by April, over a million ‘Israelis’ were unemployed.

Although the lockdown measures were mostly rolled back in recent months, unemployment is over 21%, according to the Employment Services figures on Sunday, with nearly 882,000 people out of work.