Finance C’ttee approves billions in last minute 2024 budget transfers

In a rare overnight debate of the Knesset Finance Committee, a series of major budget transfers were approved on the eve of the end of the 2024 budget year. The discussions took place despite a legal wrangling and harsh criticism from the opposition.

Among the main transfers approved: 3.63 billion shekels for allocations to the National Insurance Institute, 2.36 billion shekels to the Ministry of Health, and 161 million shekels to local authorities.

NIS 211 million was approved for the Interior Ministry, mostly earmarked for Shas party leader Aryeh Deri’s food stamp program, as part of the implementation of coalition agreements. An amount of NIS 126 million was sent to the Prime Minister’s Office for both grants to local authorities and coalition funds.

A budget transfer worth approximately NIS 4.5 billion was allocated to the Ministry of Education, after it was re-discussed due to questions from the legal office that were left unanswered. Opposition members also claimed that the transfer, which includes coalition budgets, was improperly approved.

Knesset Legal Advisor Sagit Avek strongly criticized the discussion that took place at such a late hour. “The committee’s choice to continue working at this hour sets a very problematic precedent,” she said. She added that over the years the Ministry of Finance had insisted on closing the budget early, and that budget requests approved too late could not be implemented. Representatives of the Ministry of Finance noted that although the budget was supposed to close at noon, an effort was made to postpone its closing until the evening to allow changes to the budget to be approved.

Published by Globes, Israel Business News – en.globes.co.il – on January 1, 2025

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