The government plans to present today a package of aid amounting to NIS 80 billion

The discussion in the government regarding the package of aid to the economy following the Corona crisis ended on Saturday evening with the consensus regarding the NIS 80 billion program. The details of the plan are not yet finalized, and the treasury hopes to present it to the government in the next two days. The discussion of program details and the exacerbation of emergency measures and restrictions will continue today.
It appears that NIS 5 billion will be allocated as grants to small businesses, when it is not yet decided how the money will be distributed. The Treasury will now require models from other countries to be examined. (For example, in Germany, the grant is given in accordance with the amount of employees and with reference to the absorption of workers back the next day. Alongside the Small Business Loan Fund, state funds are expected to raise additional funds: NIS 6 billion, and a leveraged loan fund for leveraged businesses to cope with crunch The credit amounting to several billion shekels has not yet been decided on by the government offices regarding a fund for loans to the high-tech sector and start-ups.
About half of the aid program (about NIS 40 billion) is defined as a budget, that is, it will be taken from the state budget, and the rest - loans from financial institutions to which the state guarantees, as well as deferments and various repayments.
The plan also takes into account the budgetary supplement to the health system, which is estimated at NIS 10 billion, but it has not yet been agreed whether the budgetary supplement will necessarily come this year or be spread over several years. The plan also includes unemployment benefits already approved on Friday, which include easier eligibility conditions as well as a grant of up to NIS 4,000 for employees over the age of 67.
As part of the deferred payment rejections, it was agreed that businesses would be given a significant rebate in property taxes while hitherto only the deferral of payments, alongside withholding of VAT was agreed. This year, this could be considered worthwhile.

When the plan is presented, the prime minister is expected to announce that the aid amounts to many tens of billions of shekels - but the amount that will be spent far outweighs the direct budgetary expenditure. It consists of budgetary expenditure, but also billions of shekels in loans that the banks can provide, on state guarantee; Billions of additional shekels in postponing payments, which the government hopes to collect at least their share in the future; And billions of shekels a month in Social Security allowances, which do not pass through the state coffers, though they may have a short-term deficit. In addition, part of the budgetary expenditure presented by the Ministry of Finance is for health and civilian coping with the Corona virus, and not for financial aid to those affected by its consequences - especially the restoration of economic activity, which the government ordered.
The Governor of the Bank of Israel, Prof. Amir Yaron, this week called on the government to decide on a NIS 15 billion budgetary expenditure on dealing with the economic implications of the Corona crisis. Yaron made forecasts for the deficit and public debt following this. The Governor said that even though public debt should be sought at regular times - we are at a time when it is necessary to increase it, to fund measures that will reduce the damage to the economy and allow it to return to normal activities faster when possible.
The director of the National Insurance Institute, Meir Spiegeler, said this week that finding the answer to those aged 67 and older who were issued to the IDF is an important task, and worked to promote the payment of the new grant - which will be implemented through emergency regulations. Minister of Labor and Social Affairs, Ophir Akunis, said the grant was "a significant and unprecedented step that expresses ongoing assistance to veteran citizens at this time."
In the meantime, discussions on the government package of measures to assist the business sector are ongoing. The emerging package is causing dissatisfaction with parts of the business sector. Some representatives of the business organizations that attended the Knesset Finance Committee meeting yesterday said that the Treasury does not share them in formulating the package, and does not respond to urgent needs that it has raised. The president of the Chamber of Commerce, Uriel Lin, said today: "The economic plan that has been formulated erodes the basic concept and party unnecessarily the business sector." He said, "There is no real statement about creating a $ 5 billion fund to support large corporations if it is a loan that needs to be repaid. The second, and based on the decline in the business cycle. "