It seems that the welfare economy that Israel has promoted over the past decades may become a part of the past, as figures show that it has suffered significant economic losses due to the war it is waging against… Gaza stripMost indicators have collapsed, from the stock market to real estate and banks, in addition to the decline of the shekel currency, the labor market, and the performance of technology companies.
Despite the Prime Minister’s announcement Benjamin Netanyahu The economic situation is under control. His Finance Minister, Bezalel Smotrich, criticized in an audio recording what he called the bureaucratic and judicial obstacles to financing the war.
The recording, published by an Israeli website, was leaked from a closed meeting regarding the money spent during the war on Gaza.
Figures indicate that Israel’s budget deficit jumped last October by about 400% on a monthly basis, against the backdrop of increased war expenses on Gaza.
The Israeli Ministry of Finance confirmed, in a statement, that the financial deficit last month amounted to about $6 billion, up from $1.2 billion last September, and attributed this to the increase in expenditures to finance the war on the Gaza Strip.
Also, the same ministry did not include all major government spending items; Such as paying the salaries of army reservists and housing 90,000 people who were evacuated to hotels, within the budget, according to what was reported by the newspaper “Globus”, which specializes in the Israeli economy.
This means that the value of the deficit in the budget last October is much greater than the announced figure if all expenses resulting from the war on Gaza are added.
According to a report by Suhaib Al-Malkawi broadcast on Al Jazeera, preliminary Israeli estimates indicated that the war on the Gaza Strip may cost Israel’s budget more than 51 billion dollars.
In the same context, the Central Bank of Israel spoke earlier about a decrease in foreign reserves by $7.3 billion over the past month.
Data published by Bloomberg also showed that Israel has issued bonds and debt instruments with a total value of $3.7 billion since the start of the war on the Gaza Strip.
