Articles by 0 August, 2021

Three years since the last budget was approved, the Israeli government approved this morning (Monday), after a white night of heated discussions, the state budget for the years 2022-2021 - and later it will have to approve it in the Knesset as well. In light of the narrow coalition, the government is facing a significant problem ahead of the Knesset vote on the budget in mid-November - and in order to obtain a majority it will have to reach various "deals". The government discussed approving the budget from Sunday morning, went out for a break in the afternoon - and returned to discuss it...

A huge fire broke out today (Tuesday) in the Jerusalem area, near the village of Shoresh and Road No. 1 (Jerusalem-Tel Aviv Road). Suspected arson. Following the fire, Shoresh's first line of houses, on Harimon Street, was evacuated - as was the gas station complex and the nearby commercial center. Later, residents of the first line of houses in the locality of Shoeva, on Hahoresh Street, were also evacuated to an absorption center in Kiryat Anavim. In addition, in both localities, electricity was cut off, in order to avoid the danger of electric shock

The Corona Cabinet decided on Tuesday evening to impose further restrictions on the public in view of the increase in Corona morbidity, including the expansion of the green label outline. The public will be required to wear masks even in open spaces during gatherings. The list of countries from which returnees will be required to enter isolation has been expanded, even if we have been vaccinated before leaving for them. Most of the decisions will take effect next Sunday, August 8th. During the discussion, some of the ministers raised the possibility that another closure would be imposed on...

The average wage in the economy last May was NIS 11,300 gross, a decrease of 3% compared to April this year. This is according to data from the Central Bureau of Statistics. The number of jobs in May was 3.552 million, an increase of 15.5% compared to the same period last year and an increase of 1.1% compared to the previous month. The continued decline in the average wage in the economy can be attributed to the return of weaker workers to the labor market. Most of the laid off or workers who were expelled from the IDF were in occupations where the monthly income was low, especially in the...

Paz will acquire Freshmarket, controlled by Shlomi and Yossi Amir, for NIS 2.1 billion in cash (80%) and shares (20%). The transaction reflects a 14% premium on the value of a fresh market on the stock exchange. Simultaneously with the decision to acquire Freshmarket, the Paz Board of Directors decided to reject the two proposals it received for the acquisition of control of the company by Leumi Partners and by Shikun VeBinui. Leumi Partners offered to inject NIS 1.055 billion, in exchange for an allotment of 20% of Paz's shares at a company value of NIS 3.85 billion - and an option to...

The warnings of the Corona Cabinet, the Ministry of Health and Prime Minister Naftali Bennett against a fourth closure, perhaps during the Tishrei holidays, lead to an attack by senior health officials who warn: A closure is not a solution. This move, they say, has failed in the past, and will fail this time as well. The Ministry of Health and its senior officials, they claim, do not take into account all the considerations, and manage the crisis through a particularly narrow prism. In the Corona Cabinet yesterday, the experts who attended the meeting said that in order to avoid reaching...

The current account deficit in the state budget in the last 12 months to July dropped to a single-digit figure - 9.3% of GDP. The deficit fell after a sharp jump of about 30% in state tax revenues in July. The deficit in June reached 10.1% and has been declining since the peak of March, when it stood at 12.1%. The total deficit is about NIS 44 billion. The volume of tax collection in Israel soared to an all-time high of NIS 35.8 billion - an increase of 23.7% compared to the same period last year. The increase was mainly due to the investments and issues of the high-tech industry. In...

After lengthy discussions in the government, Naftali Bennett this evening (Sunday) approved the outline prepared by the Ministries of Health and Education for September 1. According to the outline, which still needs to get the corona cabinet approval and will only apply if there is no closure, classes will open as usual from kindergartens to twelfth grades, under six "layers" of protective actions, including serological tests starting later this week, speed tests to be provided to parents, tests Initiated in schools in orange and red localities, observance of the rules of the corona - and...

6,275 Israelis were diagnosed as positive for Corona - more than a third of them from the education system - and this is the highest number of verified since February 8. The peak since the beginning of the plague was 10,117, on January 18th. Today, at midnight, 2,942 verified were diagnosed. Excluding surveys and tests for recoverers, the positive rate yesterday was 4.84% - the highest figure since March 6. The peak of the outbreak is 15%, on September 29 last year. Today, at midnight, the rate of positives is slightly higher - 4.89%. A total of 130,000 tests were performed yesterday, the...

Due to the peak data in the mortgage market, the Bank of Israel announced today that it has finally decided not to allow a loan to be used as equity to purchase an apartment. At the same time, it will be possible to take such a loan as a bridging loan for housing developers, until the end of the process of selling their existing property. That is, this prohibition will be particularly relevant to investors who are in fact leveraging an existing asset to purchase an additional asset. It should be noted that the activity of investors in the real estate market has increased in recent months,...