Bloomberg: ‘Israeli’ Gov’t Stalling on Its Budget

By Staff, Agencies

Bloomberg reported that “Israeli” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s administration has stalled on holding critical discussions on the entity’s 2025 budget amid the ongoing war in Gaza and escalating tensions with Hezbollah.

According to the outlet, citing “Israeli” Finance Ministry officials, budgeting is usually well underway by this time of year, but almost no substantive discussions have taken place so far.

Budget proposals are typically drafted early in summer, brought to the cabinet for approval by August, and passed by parliament by the end of the year. Failure to pass a budget by March 31, 2025 will result in the dissolution of the government and a snap election.

Netanyahu and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich have not explained the delays.

An unnamed official at Netanyahu’s office told Bloomberg that spending and financing plans could be comfortably approved even if they are placed before the cabinet as late as October.

Meanwhile, “Israel’s” central bank chief, Amir Yaron, has called on Netanyahu to speed up the process, claiming that financial markets were seeking a responsible fiscal policy even during a time of war.

Yaron has argued that permanent budgetary adjustments totaling some 30 billion ‘shekels’ [$8.1 billion] are needed next year to sustain increased military and other war-related expenditures. He also emphasized the need for “Israel’s” debt-to-GDP ratio to be steadied.

“Maintaining the budget framework for 2024 and promoting the orderly process of structuring the budget for 2025 are critical,” Yaron insisted.

The entity’s spending on the war has reportedly topped $22 billion. “Israel” has raised more than $52 billion through July to help fund the military and plug the fiscal deficit.

The budget deficit reached 8.1% of GDP in July, but Smotrich has expressed confidence that it will move back towards the 6.6% target for 2024 by the end of the year.