PM Netanyahu: A biennial budget would delay economic recovery

Countering Defense Minister Benny Gantz’s insistence on a biennial budget, PM Binyamin Netanyahu argued Monday that a single-year budget for the rest of 2020 was the most urgent order of the day. He contended that a biennial budget introduced at this time would entail cutbacks in expenditure and hamper the economy’s recovery from the coronavirus lockdowns. Addressing a meeting of his Likud faction, Netanyahu argued: “This is no time for cuts; it is time to budget cash outlays to the people, reopen the education system and allocate extra funding for health care and hospitals. If the coalition fails to table a budget in the coming week due to the Netanyahu-Gantz debate, the government falls and the Knesset dissolves for another election, the fourth in less than two years.
Netanyahu said that his plan to expand sovereignty over Jewish areas of the West Bank is not off the table and still under discussion with Washington.