The Knesset on Wednesday will hold its first vote on a renewed national budget for the year 2024. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich placed the budget on the Knesset floor on Monday, over two weeks after a deadline set by the quasi-constitutional Basic Law: The State Economy.
The vote will be held after press time on Wednesday night. Presuming that it passes, the budget will then move to the Knesset Finance Committee led by United Torah Judaism MK Moshe Gafni, where it will be prepared for its return to the Knesset floor for its second and third reading.
The Basic Law requires that the Knesset have 30 days to debate the renewed budget. Even if the Knesset does not use up all of its allocated time, the budget debates will almost certainly not meet its February 19 deadline. On February 19, therefore, there will be a “flat” budget cut across all government ministries of approximately 5% of their current budget.
This means that many of the ministries will not be able to make new transactions until the new budget passes and, according to a spokesperson from the finance ministry, many ministries will be “paralyzed” and unable to function until then. Salaries of government employees are not affected “flat” budget cuts, the spokesperson said.
Original 2024 budget passed in May 2023
The original 2024 budget passed as part of a two-year budget in May 2023. The renewed budget includes budget cuts to the Culture and Sport Ministry, Construction and Housing Ministry, Energy Ministry, Transportation Ministry, as well as cuts in many ministries’ funds earmarked for planning. The largest budget increase is to the Defense Ministry – whose budget rose by NIS 55 billion.
The proposed budget also includes a NIS 2 billion cut in coalition funding – funds that go to “implement political agreements” – out of the original approximately NIS 8 billion. The coalition funds have garnered public criticism, as opponents have argued that they are based on sectorial interests and do not reflect a change in priorities due to Israel being at war. The coalition funds include funding for haredi school systems that do not teach core secular curriculums, as well as to projects connected to settlements.
