Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu believes that the situation in Greece will affect Israel, and continues to defend the gas plan revealed to the public last week. At the beginning of today's cabinet meeting, Netanyahu commented on the economic situation in Greece. Ahead of a review by National Economic Council head Eugene Kandel, Netanyahu said, "What's happening in Greece is first of all a matter for Greece, and we hope that the Greeks find a way out of this chronic crisis. We wish them well.
"In this review, we see that in 2003, per capita GDP in Greece was higher than in Israel. We undertook a series of reforms to control spending and to open markets to competition. As a result, GDP, our per capital GDP, rose 50%, while unfortunately Greece's GDP stayed the same. We grew 50%, and they didn't grow at all. I think that events in Greece have many implications for the Israeli economy. We adopted the right policy, very difficult, not populist, anti-populist, and as a result, we got where we are now. This obviously is also important for the natural gas issue."
About the nuclear talks, Netanyahu said, "What is emerging in the nuclear talks in Vienna isn't a breakthrough; it's a breakdown. The concessions by the powers become greater with every passing day. The emerging deal will pave the way for Iran to produce cores for a great many atomic bombs, and will give Iran hundreds of billions of dollars for it to use in its aggression and terror campaigns, both in the region and throughout the world. This is a bad deal. It's just as bad as, and in my opinion worse than, the deal with North Korea, which led to a nuclear arsenal in North Korea. In this case, however, there is a major threat, both non-conventional and conventional, to Israel, the countries in the region, and the world."
Steinitz: Gas is cheap in Israel
At the beginning of today's cabinet meeting, Minister of National Infrastructure, Energy, and Water Resources Yuval Steinitz presented to the government ministers the figures for 2014 gas prices in Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries. He said, "After hearing misleading figures about gas prices in recent days, I'm giving you the natural gas prices for 2014 for electricity producers and industry.
"Figure from the IHS International consultant firm show that of the 34 OECD countries, only three have lower prices for electricity producers than Israel. The 2014 gas price figures for industry in OECD countries also show only three countries with lower gas prices than Israel."
Steinitz went on to say, "In the plan we have devised, with price ceiling mechanisms, Israel's place at the bottom of the price scale will be maintained in the coming years: both for power production and for industry."
Demonstrations were held in several places in Israel last night against the agreement with the gas exploration companies that the government is promoting. The main demonstration began at 20:30 in Habima Square in Tel Aviv, ending beside the government compound. Thousands of people took part. Simultaneous demonstrations were held near the home of the prime minister in Caesarea, and in Beersheva, Kiryat Shemona, and Jerusalem.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on July 5, 2015
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