World

Israel cabinet permits scrapping 2 years state budgets

Published April 21, 2013 Updated April 21, 2013 12:50pm

ERUSALEM: Israel's cabinet on Sunday approved a plan to revert to annual budgets starting in 2015 from two-year budgets of recent years.

Finance Minister Yair Lapid earlier this month opted to scrap dual-year budgets, arguing that forecasting is more accurate over a shorter time frame.

Israel enacted two-year budgets in 2009-2010 and 2011-2012.

Because of a general election held in January, a budget for 2013 has not yet been passed.

As a result, the ministry is working on a budget for 2013 and 2014, which must be approved by parliament by the end of July.

The cabinet also approved a bill to break up some of Israel's largest conglomerates to increase competitiveness in the economy.

Last year, parliament had given its initial nod to the plan but it was never voted on for final approval prior to a new election in January.