The passage by the U.S. Congress last Saturday evening of the Mutual Security Appropriation Bill, which includes about $65,000,000 immigrants for Israel, has partly checked the “wave of alarm over foreign currency problems which is now sweeping Israel,” the London Times reports today from Tel Aviv.
The report says that the economic difficulties which the Israel Government faces are more acute today than at any time since the foundation of the state. Officials of the Israeli Ministry of Finance are reported by the Times correspondent as stating that the crisis is now at its climax and is not likely to take a turn for the better until the end of November.
The officials explain that the present difficulties have been caused by last winter’s drought, which is estimated to have cost the country between $20,000,000 and $30,000,000 — almost the amount of foreign currency Israel lacks at the moment.
(The New York Times today reported from Tel Aviv that in a move to meet the country’s continued financial crisis the Israel Government has imposed a “very brutal” limitation on import licenses and has refused to extend expired but unused credits except for absolute essentials. These measures have enabled the Government to fulfill its obligations to foreign creditors in an effort to maintain its credit. All obligations will continue to be fulfilled, officials said, the Times emphasized.)
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.
