The Ministry of Finance is pressing to bring forward the cabinet meeting due to approve the 2015 budget from Tuesday of next week to next Sunday even though details about the budget have not yet been circulated to ministers. Sources inform "Globes" that the cabinet secretary has put the ball in the court of deputy attorney general Avi Licht on this matter.
According to procedure in recent years, the budget proposal is passed onto cabinet ministers for perusal at least seven days before the cabinet meets to approve the budget. This is to give ministers enough time to prepare for the decisive cabinet meeting. This year they will have to suffice with just five days including two days - Friday and Saturday - when Yom Kippur falls.
The Finance Ministry's demand cites the fact that the main chapters of the budget have already been presented to the socio-economic cabinet and the Economic Arrangements Bill this year is particularly lean with almost no reforms. Furthermore, the Budget contains almost no cuts meaning that opposition to the budget will be relatively limited.
The major pressure from the Ministry of Finance to approve the state budget as quickly as possible is because the process is already well behind schedule because of the protracted discussions around the Defense ministry's demands for a NIS 20 billion budget supplement.
Because of the expected obstacles in pushing the budget through and gaining all the necessary approvals, Finance Minister Yair Lapid has decided not to attend next month's annual IMF meeting in Washington D.C.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on September 29, 2014
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