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May 2009- [26/5/2009]
Minister of Finance Dr. Yuval Steinitz has decided to exempt foreign investors from tax on profits derived from private-equity funds. This move, formulated due to the economic crisis and the implications of foreign investments for the economy, is designed to make the Israeli economy more attractive to foreign investors. - [13/5/2009]
The government of Israel passed the budget proposal for 2009-2010 this morning, with 26 ministers voting in favor and four ministers voting against the proposal. - [10/5/2009]
Accountant General: "The new leverage funds, along with the first leverage fund established in March, are an important additional tool with a volume of ILS 4.5 billion, creating critical mass for addressing the target companies" - [5/5/2009]
March 2009- [24/3/2009]
The Capital Markets Division Presented Today the Measures that are Being Planned for 2009 in the Area of Pension Savings
Pension Savings - [18/3/2009]
Accountant-General Completes Overseas Offering of Ten-Year Bonds in Record Amount of USD 1.5 Billion, at 5.19% Yield - [12/3/2009]
The interministerial tender committee for the construction of solar power stations at the Ashalim site in the Negev region, headed by Senior Deputy Accountant General Avi Dor, has published two tenders for the construction, operation, maintenance, and transfer to the state of two thermo-solar power stations, for the production of up to 220 MW of electricity. The seven contending groups that passed the early screening stage were invited to participate in the bidding stage of each tender. Supplements to the tender documents, such as the franchise agreement, license, and agreement for sale to the Israel Electric Corporation, will be published later this month... - [10/3/2009]
The first foreign-currency deposit auction held this afternoon by the Accountant General drew high demand. All banks that are market makers submitted bids, at a volume of over USD 1 billion. The auction closed at an average interest rate of 2.08% (below the LIBOR rate), at an amount of USD 140 million. The deposit is for a period of one year. The Ministry of Finance plans to hold additional auctions in the near future.... - [10/3/2009]
The first tender for the establishment of a ''leverage fund'' was a success. The Bereshit Group, headed by Emmanuel Wasserman, Ran Grodetzky, and Tzuri Lavi, won the tender, which ended last Thursday, by raising the largest amount from institutional entities. The government has made a commitment to invest NIS 500 million in the fund, and the Bereshit Group was able to raise NIS 1.5 billion from the institutional entities. Thus, the first leverage fund will have over NIS 2 billion under management... - [10/3/2009]
Ashra is a company under full government ownership that insures Israeli exporters against default on payments by buyers who order transactions and services overseas, thus enabling the execution of Israeli export transactions using medium- and long-term credit. The deals are insured based on state guarantees that allow the company to offer insurance to manufacturers... - [3/3/2009]
Data of the Planning and Budgeting Committee (PBC) of the Council for Higher Education indicate that during the 2008-2009 academic year, research universities in Israel hired 104 ''returning scientists'' formerly employed by academic institutions around the world. These are professors and researchers who began their careers at higher-education institutions in Israel, and chose to leave the country for job offers from the world's leading institutions. All of the returning academics were hired for newly budgeted positions and assigned ranks based on their experience, from Lecturer to Full Professor... - [1/3/2009]
In recent months we have been witnessing the occurrence of an intense global economic crisis which has been affecting the economies worldwide. The combination of a financial crisis and the crisis in the real economy has led to sharp declines in the financial markets, a contraction in the supply of credit, increased levels of unemployment and a reduction in the wealth held by the public. All these have been felt throughout the world and, inevitably, in Israel as well.
February 2009- [15/2/2009]
The Ministry of Finance has proposed an innovative solution to help the financial system contend with its high liquidity balances in foreign currency. Accountant General Shuky Oren plans to allow deposits of the domestic financial system's foreign-currency balances in designated deposits with the Accountant General. The deposits will be performed through several auctions held to set the interest rate generated by the deposits... - [5/2/2009]
Yesterday, representatives of the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Science, Culture, and Sports, and the Cinema Council signed an agreement concerning the cinema budget, under which the cinema industry will receive NIS 335 million in funding in 2009-2013, or NIS 67 million each year... - [5/2/2009]
Today, Accountant General Shuky Oren delivered the format of the state guarantee documents to be provided to the banking system, at a volume of NIS 6 billion. The state guarantees will be offered to the banks for issues of subordinated notes, which will be recognized by the Supervisor of Banks as upper secondary capital... - [4/2/2009]
Today, the Knesset Economics Committee approved the regulations submitted by Minister of Finance Roni Bar-On concerning buying and selling of securities and buying of securities in specific offerings. The regulations approved today prevent institutional entities (provident funds, pension funds, and insurance companies) from conducting brokerage activities (buying and selling securities) through ''stock='' '' exchange='' '' members='' '' '' (stock exchange members carry out securities trading activity on behalf of the institutional entities) belonging to the same group. For example, a particular provident fund will not be permitted to buy securities through brokers belonging to its group or related to it through various types of ownership ties. The Economics Committee further approved regulations limiting the rate purchased out of offerings of groups of institutional entities related to the underwriters or distributors participating in these offerings... - [1/2/2009]
Today, Minister of Finance Roni Bar-On announced an aid plan for the high technology and biotechnology sectors, making hundreds of millions of shekels available to the Chief Scientist and for the establishment of a special biotech investment fund. The plan, formulated in collaboration with the Ministry of Industry, Trade, and Labor, the Chief Scientist, and experts in high-tech investments, constitutes an additional element of the third stage of the Finance Ministry's acceleration plan...
January 2009- [28/1/2009]
Finance Minister Roni Bar On: "The aid to the residential real-estate sector will accelerate the construction of thousands of housing units and protect the jobs of thousands of workers at various wage levels. We will not hesitate to apply policy tools and provide aid and focused solutions to accelerate economic activity and support the economy in coping with the crisis." - [12/1/2009]
Today, the Social-Economic Cabinet headed by Minister of Finance Roni Bar-On established a guiding objective of producing electricity based on renewable energy at a volume of 10% of Israel's power needs by 2020, further to the resolution of the Social-Economic Cabinet on November 4, 2002 and the government resolution of August 12, 2007. Power stations will be constructed by granting licenses, allocating land, and establishing rates and incentives. The mix of technologies, in terms of the allocation of land and incentives, will take into account considerations of applicability, national and economic feasibility, global trends, and optimal utilization of water and land resources... - [9/1/2009]
As part of the implementation of the acceleration plan, the Accountant General Division of the Ministry of Finance has selected three banks – Mercantile-Discount Bank, Bank Otsar Hahayal, and Bank Hapoalim – to establish a new fund at a volume of NIS 1.3 billion, which will offer loans to mid-sized businesses...
December 2008- [31/12/2008]
The interministerial tender committee for seawater desalination, headed by Gil Shabtai, Senior Deputy Accountant General at the Ministry of Finance, received proposals today from the operators of the desalination plants in Israel, located in Ashkelon, Palmachim, and Hadera, for the expansion of the plants' capacity by a total of 57 million cubic meters over the coming year; this quantity represents approximately a 25% increase of the current output... - [21/12/2008]
Today (Sunday), Ministry of Finance Accountant General Shuky Oren will issue a temporary order concerning a substitute for bank guarantees in social-service tenders. The new temporary order will aid budgeted non-profit associations by eliminating the costs of interest and fee payments required of the non-profits in order to obtain bank guarantees, and releasing the amounts of the guarantees for use by the non-profits. The state's waiver of the bank guarantees will increase budgeted non-profits' budgetary resources by approximately NIS 150 million... - [14/12/2008]
The Ministry of Finance continues the implementation of the acceleration plan. Today, the Accountant General Division issued a request for proposals to banks for the establishment of a fund to extend loans to mid-sized businesses, at a volume of approximately NIS 1 billion. The state will allocate NIS 200 million to the fund, in two stages (NIS 100 million in the first stage), while the banks are expected to increase this amount to about NIS 1 billion. This is a new fund, which will help mid-sized businesses with annual turnovers of NIS 22-100 million obtain credit to finance their operations. The RFP was issued further to a request to banks a week ago to expand the loan fund for small businesses...
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