"The economic crisis is global and on a scale that the public still does not fully understand. But it is a crisis that will hit us and has already hit us. The Governor of the Bank of Israel said yesterday that there will be an extra 50,000 unemployed by the end of 2009," Likud chairman MK Benjamin Netanyahu said today at a press conference to launch the Likud's economic manifesto.
Flanked by three former Likud Ministers of Finance - Silvan Shalom, Prof. Yaakov Ne'eman and Dan Meridor, Netanyahu said, "The process is accelerating and will threaten the employment of Israeli citizens - but we reverse the trend and put a brake on it and create places of employment."
He added, "Lowering taxes is the crucial component in reversing the trend - this is also good news for everybody below the tax threshold. We entered the crisis later than all the other countries because the governments here implemented various steps and reforms that improved Israel's situation. The reforms were made provide protection and enable the Governor to cut interest rates as he did yesterday.
"Fischer is working in a responsible and decisive way, while understanding the storm which is approaching us. I welcome this and I am happy about it. I asked him to serve in the position because I knew his abilities would help us on a cloudy day and it's very cloudy at the moment."
He concluded, "Our aim is to turn things around - to stop the slide and move to growth."
The manifesto that Netanyahu presented said, "Immediate handling of the credit crisis the crisis is very severe and what the Bank of Israel did yesterday was only the beginning of the needed treatment. There are American guarantees bringing in credit from outside of the country that we have not used. We must return to the path of reform in the tax sector all the reforms have been frozen.
Israel will be very competitive. In the international reality it is very difficult to change the economy of India or China but it's easier to change trends in a small economy like Israel.
"The Likud will hold onto the Ministry of Finance after the elections, as well as the Ministry of Education. The economic policy will be set by me - there is no possibility that the prime minister will not be involved in setting economic policy during a time of crisis."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on January 27, 2009
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