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Ahead of election year, Knesset begins debate on 2019 budget

To ensure economic stability, the budget is being discussed well in advance, as 2019 is slated to be an election year in Israel.

By: World Israel News Staff

The 2019 state budget and Economic Arrangements Law – legislation that accompanies the budget – were submitted to the Knesset on Sunday, and the first of three votes is scheduled for Tuesday.

The budget is being discussed well in advance, as 2019 is slated to be an election year in Israel and the government is seeking to finalize the bill and ensure economic stability

After weeks of intense negotiations between Finance Ministry officials and Knesset Legal Adviser Eyal Yinon and other Knesset officials, an agreement on the bill’s content was reached by Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon, Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein (Likud) and Coalition Chairman David Amsalem (Likud).

The sides agreed to remove 14 of 44 clauses in the Arrangements Law, citing the need for lawmakers to complete deliberation on the two measures in a compressed one-month time frame.

The Arrangements Law is a government-sponsored bill presented to the Knesset each year alongside the State Budget Law. It incorporates government bills and legislative amendments that are needed in order for the government to fulfill its economic policy. The law is also referred to as the “Economic Policy Law” and the “Israeli Economic Recuperation Law.”

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”We made an effort to find the right balance between the government’s wish to advance economic reforms and the need to maintain proper legislative procedures,” Edelstein said. ”Now that the Arrangements Law has been trimmed down, the responsibility moves to the heads of the committees and the MKs to produce reforms which benefit the public, in a proper legislative process.”

Kahlon noted that the “understandings we reached enable us to continue to implement the Finance Ministry’s policy of growing the economy, narrowing social gaps, reducing the cost of living and solving the housing crisis. The budget for 2019 is responsible and balanced that takes into account the overall needs of the Israeli economy.”

Kahlon thanked Edelstein “for proving time and again that he is attentive to the needs of the Israeli economy and Israel’s citizens.”