Israel’s new economic needs, which emerged following the victorious six-day war with the Arabs, were outlined here today by Finance Minister Pinhas Sapir at the opening session of the two day conference of 60 prominent world Jewish leaders invited by Prime Minister Levi Eshkol to act as an international economic advisory body to the Government of Israel.
Mr. Sapir stressed the role of the United Jewish Appeal and Israel Bonds in the development of Israel’s economy. He told the Jewish industrial and financial figures the policy of economic self-restraint imposed by the Government on the Israel economy before the June war would continue. He said the policy had already brought a drop in Israel’s international trade deficit and that this drop had been maintained despite the war.
He added that, nevertheless, Israel’s economy needed changes in production, employment and investment and that the competitiveness of Israeli products must be increased. Predicting Israel’s population would exceed 3,500,000 in the next decade, he said the labor force would grow by about 25 percent. This will require a massive increase in investment but the fact is, he added, investments have been declining for the past 18 months.
The Finance Minister warned that existing sources of such funds from the UJA, Israel Bonds and private investment were not sufficient and that the volume of business investment must grow. He outlined a ten-point plan for that objective. He listed the freezing of social benefits and prices and gearing wage increases to productivity increases. “We know what our objectives are,” he told the Jewish leaders. “We look to you for the answer to the question of how we can reach them in the quickest and best way.”
Additional details were presented by Dr. J. Arnon, the head of Israel’s Economic Planning Authority and Zeev Sharef, Commerce and Industry Minister. The latter said half of the needed investments would come from the local economy. One proposal for providing the balance, he stated, was to create an organization to be called the American Trade and Industrial Development with Israel Corporation (ATID) which would provide advice on marketing and demands of the American buying public for Israel’s products. Prime Minister Levi Eshkol presided over the meeting.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
