David Horowitz, director-general of the Israel Ministry of Finance, today told a group of leading American bankers that the “essential feature of Israel’s dynamic economy is the continued flow of capital goods which makes possible a steadily increasing production.” He spoke at a luncheon at the Lawyers Club given for him and the banker guests by the American section of the Jewish Agency.
“The total of investments in Israel reached the very high level of $241,000,000 in 1949,” Mr. Horowitz declared. “During the year, 250 new industrial enterprises were established and 204 additional enterprises are today in the process of establishment. At the same time, it is evident that in the development of a ploneer country, a considerable portion of the financial burden must be borne by public and semi-public funds. In this connection the United Jewish Appeal, the central agency for fund-raising for Israel in the U.S., shoulders the great responsibility for providing the pioneer capital necessary to pave the way for normal commercial and financial investments.”
Reviewing the economic history of the country since its founding in 3/1948, Mr. Horowitz stated that Israel’s war of independence against the Arab states was financed “up to 70 percent by the efforts of the young state itself.” He declared that a successful monetary reform was undertaken “under actual battle conditions” and that the normal functions of the state’s economy continued to be discharged despite the fact that an exceptionally large proportion of both manpower and womanpower was under arms.
“Today,” he stated, “the ordinary budget of the state is balanced by normal revenue. But the fact that the country admitted 360,000 immigrants–increasing its population by 50 percent–in a short period of time” has created special problems, he said. He added that the process of expansion and increased production will, in the long run, rectify the country’s balance of payments by enabling it to increase its exports. One of the reasons for the present adverse trade balance is the continued and expanding import of capital goods into the country, he said. Gottlieb Hammer, executive director of the American section of the Agency, presided at the luncheon.
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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.
