Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Minister of Finance Avigdor Liberman have agreed a new aid package to help the Israeli economy get through the fifth Covid wave.
In the first measure the number of days isolation for somebody who tests positive for Covid will be shortened to seven days.
In the second measure, officials in the Ministry of Finance and the Prime Minister's Office, with mediation from Deputy Finance Minister Ayood Kara, have agreed assistance for the self-employed who need to go into isolation. The state will pay NIS 436 per day to a maximum of four days from January 1, 2021. Retroactive requests back to July 2021 for up to three days can be submitted.
The state will also compensate employers whose salaried employees are in isolation with 50-75% of their salary, depending on the size of the business, from the first day. Until now the compensation has only been available from the second day.
The new government package will cost an estimated NIS 200-250 million of which NIS 150 million will for retroactive payments to the self-employed.
Bennett told journalists this afternoon. "We understand that we are in the midst of the fifth wave and this is a time that is not straightforward. On the other hand, the government continues its policy of living alongside Covid and without a lockdown."
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on January 11, 2022.
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