Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said that the Cabinet is scheduled to approve the war budget for 2024 next Thursday, after the ministers approved financial support worth 9 billion shekels ($2.5 billion) for reservists.
Smotrich added – today – in a joint statement with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Galant, “Reserve soldiers and their families are among the priorities of the State of Israel, and they are the pillar of the 2024 budget that we will present at the end of this week.”
Last year, before the start of the aggression against the Gaza Strip, Israel approved a budget for the years 2023 and 2024, but the war on Gaza severely damaged the government’s public finances, requiring budget adjustments and additional spending.
Last month, the Israeli Knesset (Parliament) approved a special war budget for the year 2023 worth 30 billion shekels ($8.33 billion) to help finance the war and compensate those affected by the “Al-Aqsa Flood” operation launched by the Palestinian resistance led by the Al-Qassam Brigades, the military arm of the Hamas movement. On October 7th.
Smotrich’s spokesman said a budget vote was likely to be held on Thursday, but did not provide further details.
The Finance Ministry said the war would likely cost at least another 50 billion shekels ($14 billion) in 2024 and would nearly triple its budget deficit to about 6% of gross domestic product if the fighting continued until next February.
Opposition position
Two days ago, the professional staff at the Ministry of Finance proposed closing 10 unnecessary ministerial offices, while Smotrich expressed his opposition to the proposal.
At that time, opposition leader Yair Lapid renewed the demand calling for transferring the budgets of the government coalition agreements, included in the 2024 budget, to cover war expenses, including establishing a special fund at a cost of 10 billion shekels to compensate the reserve forces, which was what opposition leader Yair Lapid proposed.
In light of the war on Gaza, the economic crisis, and the stagnation in the labor market, the 37th government of Israel, consisting of 31 ministries, faces many internal challenges, whether social, political, or economic. The coalition government consists of 6 parties: Likud, “Torah Judaism,” and “Shas.” “,” “Religious Zionism,” “Jewish Greatness,” and “Noam.”