Ahead of the "Globes" Business Conference in Jerusalem on Wednesday and Thursday, where Minister of Finance Moshe Kahlon will be one of the keynote speakers, he has given an interview to "Globes."
Are the recent price rises in the food sector related to the interests of the food chain owners are do they stem from a genuine need?
Kahlon: "To my understanding they don't stem from any genuine need but rather the desire by some companies to take advantage of what they deem to be a window of opportunity. They are trying to take a ride on a trial balloon that was sent up several months ago regarding price hikes and didn't expect such a response from consumers, and I'm glad about this. We as the government can open up markets to competition through parallel imports, cancelling import duties, but ultimately it is the consumer that decides matters. Smart consumerism is no less important than the struggle against the cost of living and the reforms that we are leading. I say this as a graduate of no few reforms. When I appear in public, I always stress this because I don't think the public understand this enough."
Lowering the cost of living was your main election promise - is your desire for bringing the elections forward connected to this, and will you go to elections with the prices of basic products rising?
"There were other main promises like lowering the price of housing, which we saw in the last prices index. But you are right that the struggle against the cost of living is a central campaign promise of the Kulanu party and we have kept it. Look at the real rise in salaries since 2015 - 11.7%, compared with the rise in the Consumer Price Index (CPI), and you can see for yourself that the cost of living has fallen."
Likud ministers and MKs like Miri Regev and David Bitan have charged that you are trying to bring down the government and bring about early elections.
"I was in the Knesset for many years before Bitan and Regev even thought about the Likud. Many of the books they read today, I wrote. I was chairman of the Likud Central Committee. These slogans might work on somebody else."
So when will there be elections?
"In March I think."
how will Kulanu fare in the elections?
"We'll come to the elections and everybody will set out their manifesto before the public. We had impressive successes in the municipal elections, where we managed to win 17 cities. I'm very confident."
The prime minister wants to raise the defense budget by billions.
"The defense budget has worked wonderfully. The chief of staff has said more than once that the agreement allowed him to work very well. More training, more equipment, more procurement - everything that the military requires."
The criticism of you is that you didn't take advantage of the good years to prepare for the bad years. Instead of saving on tax cuts, you haven't worried for rainy days.
"The commentators have a problem. As soon as they cannot attack over what has happened, I'm attacked over what will be and that's something that can't be checked.
And what do you see in 2019?
"I don't see anything. In 2018, I promise that the deficit will be according to the target or over it negligibly."
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on December 18, 2018
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