If the negotiations on establishing a new government take too long, they may decide to implement the plan within two weeks.
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Minister of Finance Silvan Shalom are jointly involved in formulating the economic emergency plan proposed by senior Ministry of Finance officials.
Sharon and Shalom will soon decide if the NIS 7-9 billion budget cut and other measures will be implemented by the outgoing government, or be postponed until the new government takes office.
Sources in Jerusalem believe that if the negotiations on establishing a new government take too long, they may decide to implement the plan within two weeks. However, if Sharon succeeds in establishing a new government within the next two weeks, approval and implementation of the plan may be postponed for a while.
Minister of Finance director general Ohad Marani told “Globes” today that the plan’s details have not yet been worked out, but there was a consensus on the need to cut the budget and carry out a series of reforms and long-term structural changes. “The prime minister and minister of finance must still decide on key dilemmas,” he said.
Published by Globes [online] - www.globes.co.il - on February 6, 2003