Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Minister of Finance Bezalel Smotrich this evening presented a raft of measures designed to ease the wave of price rises in the Israeli economy. The latest steps come after the government yesterday cut the taxes on sugary drinks and disposable items.
Netanyahu said, "This evening we are announcing a range of initial measures in the war against inflation on: electricity, water, fuel and local taxes. We must break the vicious circle of inflation."
Netanyahu set out four immediate steps; freezing local taxes (arnona) for one year, cancelling the reason price hike in gasoline, in other words reducing the price by NIS 0.10 by lowering excise, cutting 70% of the recent electricity price hike so that rates would rise by 2.5% instead of 8%, and cancelling 70% of the recent water tariffs hike.
Netanyahu added, "At the same time we are working with joint teams in the Prime Minister's Office, Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Economy and Industry in order to form a plan that will be presented with the budget including the fight against housing prices, and the first step in the Free Education Law for ages 0-3. But we cannot wait until the budget discussions and must start getting thing going now. Sometimes when you're in a crisis, you have to take special measures for a limited period of time that are well considered and responsible."
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on January 11, 2023.
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