Responding to Prime Minister Levi Eshkol’s call to restrain wage increases and prices in order to combat inflation, senior employes in Israel’s military industries today agreed to forego five percent of their salary as of February. A letter to this effect was sent by their spokesmen to the Premier. They expressed the hope that others would follow their example in order to bolster the government’s anti-inflation campaign.
A plea by Israeli manufacturers for reinstatement of government export premiums was in the meantime rejected by Trade and Industry Minister Haim Zadok. He proposed instead other incentives to encourage exports, such as easier credit and broader tax rebate approaches.
Addressing a meeting of the Council of the Export Institute, Mr. Zadok warned that a return to export premiums not only would not increase industrial exports but would also lead to further increases in taxes, both direct and indirect, because such premiums would be financed by the national budget. He added that premiums financed by excise duties would increase domestic prices.
He reported that import of goods and services in the past year reached 1,250,000,000 pounds ($416,700,000) compared to 750,000,000 pounds ($350,000,000) in exported goods and services.
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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.
