Investment in Haifa and the north will reach NIS 4 billion. The investment target does not include purchase tax fund compensation and reconstruction money for repairing direct war damage to property, or planned investment in infrastructures.
NIS 1 billion will come from ministries’ budgets diverted for investment in new projects or the speeding up of existing projects; NIS 1.53 billion will come from a special government budget; and NIS 1.5 billion from donations from Jewish communities abroad.
The NIS 1.53 billion special budget will be allocated among task forces to be set up by the government, as follows: NIS 725 million for a task force headed by Office of the Vice Premier director general Efrat Duvdevani, which will handle development projects; NSI 450 million for a task force headed by Ministry of the of the Interior director general Ram Belnikov, which will assist local authorities; NIS 280 million for a task force headed by Ministry of Finance director general Dr. Joseph Bachar, which will develop economic tools for helping residents and businesses; and NIS 75 million for a task force for treating people with special needs or suffering from anxiety, headed by Ministry of Health director general Prof. Avi Israeli.
An inquiry has found that marketers and retailers exploited the situation in the north during the war to gouge prices for food. Sales proceeds of food at supermarkets and stores rose by a seasonally adjusted 1.3% in July, after falling 4.4% in April-June, according to an analysis of Central Bureau of Statistics data by economic ministries in Jerusalem.
On the other hand, wholesale prices to supermarkets and stores fell by a seasonally adjusted 3.7% in July, and wholesale proceeds were 7% lower in July than in May.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes.co.il - on September 10, 2006
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