It has taken over 40 months. Finally, Israel is on the way to voting through a state budget.

It is not perfect. It will have two further readings in November, when it will be watered down further. It is backed by a government with a majority of just one vote, and thus all kinds of brinkmanship is to be expected. However, it should go right through and be signed by the President before the end of the year.

What does this mean? First, ministries can begin to to their job – plan and strategise on behalf of the public, unseen for years. Second, and arguably more important, the vote is big shout out to the monetary markets of the world: “Israel is back and looking after its economy. Thus, it should be cheaper to raise finance. That helps with the paying for structural projects, which open up the economy even more!

There are many healthy signs around: –

• The economy still grew at 5.3% in the first half of 2021, despite the first quarter contraction that was caused by an extended lockdown.
• The budget is the first serious attempt to create an economy that can “live” or “work alongside” corona.
• After 18 months of corona, the Israeli financial sector remains strong, although cash for small businesses remains tight.
• And the growing economic ties with new friends like Morocco and Abu Dhabi can only have result in positive effects, at least in the short term.

What next? Three steps are required:

A) Seal the budget. Get through what can be done. The government needs to sign off on what it has started.

B) There are elements of the budget that have fallen by the wayside with some ‘Sir Humphrey’ linguistics – needing more time for discussion, etc. For example, I am referring to disrupting the vested interest that keep the prices of fruit and vegetables high. At the very least, these need to have some initial wording in the protocols of November.

C) Please, please, please – do not stop there, Mr. Bennett. More and more reforms are urgently required, ignored by the previous Netanyahu governments.

Great start. More work to be done.