A supplementary budget of 113 million pounds to carry the Israel Government through the end of the fiscal year next March 31 was introduced in the Knesset last night by Finance Minister Levi Eshkol, who told the House that the Israel economy was able to absorb these additional expenditures without resort to inflationary measures. The only danger of inflation is presented by demands for increasing of personal incomes, rather than by the budget, he asserted.
(The New York Times reported from Jerusalem today that Mr. Eshkol announced Israel was stockpiling food as a security measure and that a portion of the funds sought in the supplementary budget would cover this need. Mr. Eshkol asked 15 million pounds for this purpose, the Times report said.)
The Finance Minister told the Knesset that the government will use the extra funds it seeks for the following purposes: To pay for increased costs of the North African immigration; to reimburse farmers for crop losses due to drought, pest and other natural pronominal; to complete a number of outstanding development projects and to finance several special schemes decided upon by the government; to increase the salaries of civil servants, and, finally, as a reserve for security needs.
One special project which he named was the manufacture in Israel of the Salk anti-polio vaccine which Israel had hoped to purchase from the United States, but which it cannot now buy because of a U.S. Government embargo on export of the vaccine.
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