Teva chairman Eli Hurvitz believes that economic policy in times of crisis should refer directly to both the past and the present. "The government should operate in the same way as enterprises act at the microeconomic level. I criticize the government on this point. In a crisis, if I get a solution that I don’t understand, or if I don’t think there was consulting on it, I shouldn’t accept it. Otherwise the government will end up with solutions that will no good either now or in the future," he told the Herzliya Conference in an open discussion on the economic dimension today.
Hurvitz added, "Couldn’t they have consulted more with industry before deciding to give what they intend to give? I'm not talking about the amount, which I also find wanting. The plan is a lot of nonsense."
Hurvitz said that if the high-tech industry lays off 10,000 people, "the day before the end of the crisis, do you know how we'll look? We must think outside the box, possibly lower salaries, or maybe only 2,000 workers should go into teaching."
Hurvitz wondered, "Will the Ministry of Finance's bureaucracy be able to succeed in something that an entire industry failed to do?"
The government proposes increasing the budget of the Office of the Chief Scientist by NIS 150 million in the first quarter of 2009, allocating NIS 250 million for the establishment of a new fund that will invest in biotechnology, and adding NIS 50 million to set up R&D centers in outlying areas.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on February 2, 2009
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