Military spending priority of Israel’s 2024 state budget

Israel’s 2024 state budget will be first directed to war,
then to economic growth. Israeli Minister of Economy Nir Barkat said this. He
noted that certain “compromises” will be made, necessary for the expansion of
the government.

The Israeli Ministry of Finance is going to submit the new state budget in the
coming days. “For 2024, we are planning the budget in a way that will allow us
to focus first on the war, then on economic growth. We will make necessary
compromises, so that everybody can be happy,” Barkat said in his interview with
Bloomberg. 

As Barkat noted, the military operations will cost 2-3% of
Israel’s GDP. However, the country will be able to “overcome it relatively
easily”. He also noted that potential investors do not need to be concerned
about the economic price that Israel is ready to pay for the war. “When there
is no security, there is no economy. That is why we are ready to do our best to
restore our security,” Nir Barkat said.

To remind, the war between Israel and Hamas continues. So
far, 1.4 thousand people have been killed on the Israeli side, and 11.000
people on the Palestinian side. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has
announced their plans to establish military control in the Gaza Strip. Making
reference to the data provided by the Ministry of Finance, Israeli daily
business newspaper Calcalist wrote that if the military operations against
Hamas continue for more than 12 months, they will cost Israel over $50 billion,
which will amount to about 10% of Israel’s annual GDP.