For the first time since taking up office, Minister of Finance Yuval Steinitz, in a speech at the College for Academic Studies in Or Yehuda yesterday, admitted to some failures as finance minister.
"The social situation in Israel is not good and there is much that should be improved. There is poverty, and there are wide and unacceptable social gaps, and the criticism of them is partly justified," said Steinitz. "Criticism of us as a government is proper, but we are acting correctly, and we will succeed in future in correcting and improving the situation."
Commenting on the social protest in 2011, Steinitz said, "Of all the social protest's causes, that of the distress caused by the housing shortage was just."
Steinitz admitted that most of the structural reforms started during his term have not succeeded. "The Ministry of Finance has not completed several key matters," he said, citing reforms at the seaports and at Israel Electric Corporation (IEC) (TASE: ELEC.B22), which have not been implemented, with the exception of the privatization of the Eilat Port. The Committee on Concentration in the Economy has not completed its work, and the building reform is still far from being implemented.
Asked by a student about his chances of keeping his job as finance minister, Steinitz replied, "It's not unreasonable that I will again be the finance minister. I like the job. In any case, I will definitely be a senior minister in the next government."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on January 3, 2013
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