Sources inform ''Globes'' that the Ministry of Finance has no intention of giving more budget supplements to the Ministry of Defense in 2013, in the aftermath of Operation Pillar of Cloud. A top Ministry of Finance official said, "The operation cost less than NIS 1 billion, but even if it cost NIS 3 billion, there is nothing to budget, because there were no unexpected expenditures. Moreover, there is no money for 2013, so there won't be any supplements."
The official said that some costs could be quantified, including NIS 125-150 million for the call-up of IDF reservists (50,000 reservists called up for five days at a cost of NIS 50 per day), NIS 25-50 million for Air Force sorties (at $15,000 per flight-hour), and NSI 120 million to rebuild Iron Dome munitions inventories (400 interceptor missiles at NIS 300,000 per missile).
The defense budget is big enough as it is
"Reservists, who would have been called up for training in any case, were called up. The Air Force maybe flew 50% more than it would have without the operation. So what happened?" asked the Ministry of Finance official. "Training is routine, and was already budgeted. There is no justification for supplementing the defense budget for this operation, which only lasted for eight days." He added, "Not every event justifies a budget supplement. The defense budget is big enough as it is."
The Ministry of Finance believes that the Ministry of Defense will ask for a budget supplement of NIS 1-3 billion. However, Ministry of Finance officials told "Globes" that it has no plans to initiate a discussion on the matter, and that it would postpone any discussion for as long as possible.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on November 25, 2012
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