The new unity government resolved today to cut $1 billion from its budget for the current fiscal year and appointed a committee of four top Cabinet ministers to make the cuts. The four are Premier Shimon Peres, Deputy Premier Yitzhak Shamir, Finance Minister Yitzhak Modai (Likud) and Economic and Planning Minister Gad Yaacobi (Labor).
Acting Cabinet Secretary Michael Nir made it clear to reporters that the four were empowered to decide on the budget slashes, and there is no appeal from the decision back to the full Cabinet.
The four, however, will not act indiscriminately: later this week the full Cabinet is to convene for a daylong seminar session on the economy, Peres told the Cabinet. Peres, Modai, Yaacobi and Deputy Premier and Housing Minister David Levy were scheduled to confer tonight with a top-level Histadrut team led by Secretary General Yisrael Kessar regarding plans for a package deal on wages and price freezes to help put a lid on soaring inflation.
Cabinet sources said most of today’s meeting was devoted to the economic crisis. Modai himself, in public remarks over the weekend, has not concealed his intention to impose tough measures, though he has stressed repeatedly that all sectors of the economy will be required to “share the burden equitably” and he has repeatedly denied that dollar and dollar-linked deposits and savings schemes will be affected adversely.
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