The virtual certainty of a compulsory loan for Israeli taxpayers loomed today, as Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion returned from vacation to confer with top level Government economic officials in preparation for his scheduled message to the nation to be broadcast Tuesday, the eve of Israel’s Independence Day.
The Finance Ministry was reported to have prepared a special compulsory savings plan that will absorb some 60, 000, 000 Israeli pounds ($20, 000, 000), providing for repayment over a five to seven-year period.
Economic experts said the compulsory loan was made inevitable when the Histadrut, the Israel Federation of Labor, rejected Finance Minister Levi Eshkol’s proposal to pay increases in the cost-of-living allowances partly in Government bonds. According to the plan, which was negotiated at high-level consultations which included Mr. Ben-Gurion and Mr. Eshkol, workers earning less than 300 pounds ($100) per month, will be exempt from the loan project.
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.
