Manufacturers Association president Shraga Brosh recommends importing a finance minister in a slashing attack against the growing cottage cheese boycott today. He said that the public was ignoring the facts and that the fight against high food prices was not justified.
Brosh said, "There is no finance minister in Jerusalem. If there was a finance minister, he would have summoned everyone a long time ago, when the problem emerged, check what was happening with the farmers, the manufacturers, and the retailers. Found the problem and dealt with it. What could be simpler? Populism is cheap: Let's import cheese. But if we want to import cheese, I have a better proposal: the prime minister once travelled abroad and imported a governor to the Bank of Israel (Stanley Fischer - G.K.). I suggest that he go and import a finance minister. It's cheaper, more economical, and will greatly benefit the Israeli economy."
Brosh is also scathing about Minister of Finance Yuval Steinitz's proposal to review the import of food products. "The finance minister should not fan the flames. This isn't Tahrir Square. It isn't the finance minister's authority to approve the import of prices. If he is such a hero, he should free the Dairy Law, but so long as there is a law, there are quotas, competition - and therefore a price threshold.
"Last August, the government approved a state budget with NIS 6 billion in extra taxes, and we objected, because in the end it adds NIS 0.50 to a package of butter. Just as it raised the excise on diesel, it raised it the price of fuel. Prices are also rising for water and electricity. The men who don’t return the money to the consumers are the finance minister and infrastructures minister. The Ministry of Finance refuses to give money back to consumers, claiming, 'We'll keep it at Israel Electric Corporation (IEC) (TASE: ELEC.B22) and use it for depreciation."
Brosh said, "They won't revise the budget, so the price of cheese does not fall. There are no surprises here. Every other day they approve another deviation on arnona (local property tax) - shouldn’t goods get the same? Of course they should. It's possible to set aside billions of shekels more for other sectors, beyond the global rise in prices for raw materials, including in Israel."
Brosh concluded, "I call on the prime minister to do what he should do when the finance minister is bankrupt. Convene the manufacturers, farmers, and retailers, and whoever is relevant, and ask them, 'Show me and find a solution'."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on June 19, 2011
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2011