The government work plan for 2014 promises more housing starts, lower home prices, greater competition, the start of construction of new ports, streamlining of Israel Electric Corporation (IEC) (TASE: ELEC.B22), and a review of corporate tax breaks. Judging by the 670-page tome, life is in Israel is going to get better.
The question, of course, is implementation. The work plan sets output indices for the main tasks and it will be possible to see which targets will be met.
The 2014 work plan sets out the government's main tasks in various sectors and for ministers and ministry director generals. For example, the Ministry of Construction and Housing emphasizes lowering home prices through a target price tenders for land pilot (in which the bidders set a maximum price for homebuyers in land tenders) and other measures.
The Ministry of the Economy set targets for lowering the cost of living, including the establishment of an inter-ministerial committee for lifting import barriers, the creation of a social bank, assistance for small and mid-sized businesses in public tenders, the removal of obstacles, and a reduction in regulations.
In the introduction to the Ministry of Finance's chapter, Minister of Finance Yair Lapid says, The first target is to put the Israeli middle class as the priority… Israel should strive for growth of over 5% a year over the coming decade… We should lower home prices, and there is just one thing that can do this: construction. A lot of construction. The construction of tens of thousands of housing units a year, more than the natural growth rate, for both purchasing and rent."
This year, the Prime Minister's Office intends to establish a sovereign wealth fund for the receipts from natural gas and oil sales, reduce the use of cash as part of its campaign against black capital, foster economic collaboration with China and Latin American countries, and tax wallet companies that executives use to avoid paying full taxes on their huge salaries.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on March 23, 2014
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