The reserve budget clause reached a record NIS 30 billion in 2013-2014 according to the calculations of the Knesset State Auditing Committee headed by MK Amnon Cohen (Shas). The reserve budget is an undefined budget that government ministries are not allowed to utilize without explicit permission from the Ministry of Finance's Treasury Division. These budgets have come to be called "petty cash" by the Budget Division or as Cohen calls it, "funds without a face, without a name and without transparency," and he has even accused the Ministry of Finance of "hiding billions."
An examination found that in six ministries there was a significant rise in the reserve clause: Prime Minister's Office and the Ministries of Finance, Health, Welfare, Education, and Science and Technology.
The reserve budget in 2013 reached NIS 15.7 billion and will be NIS 15.3 billion in 2014 compared with "just" NIS 12.5 billion in 2012 - a sharp rise of 25%. Consequently Cohen has turned to the State Comptroller Joseph Shapira and on Tuesday he will chair a Knesset Committee debate.
Cohen's investigation found that under the sub-clause of "miscellaneous expenses" in the budget of the Ministry of Finance there was NIS 6.4 billion hidden without any explanation compared with just NIS 1 billion in 2009 - a rise of 2,300% in just five years. In addition, the clause "miscellaneous expenses" has its own reserve clause "reserve for special activities" with a budget of NIS 2.4 billion for two years. In total under the reserve clause and miscellaneous expense is a huge sum of NIS 37.2 billion for 2013 and 2014, which is more than 10% of the total budget (without interest payments and development budgets).
Prof. Momi Dahan director of the Hebrew University's School of Public Policy describes this situation as a "serious breakdown in democracy."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on December 22, 2013
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