The ongoing war with the Hamas terror group is slated to incur NIS 253 billion ($67 billion) in defense and civilian costs between the years 2023 and 2025, Bank of Israel Governor Amir Yaron warned on Thursday.
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| Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, with troops of Israel Defence Forces (IDF). Photo: @netanyahu |
Speaking at a conference, Yaron cautioned that the security and civilian war costs were “significant” and presented a budgetary burden. In addition, the future security budget is expected to grow permanently and have a macroeconomic impact, he added.
“The government needs to make sure that it makes the right balances and budget adjustments in light of growing permanent security expenses,” he declared.
A breakdown of the latest war cost estimate showed that almost half of the war expenditure, or NIS 118 billion ($32 billion), will be needed to meet defense needs along with NIS 38 billion ($10 billion) for civilian spending until 2025, including the cost of evacuating civilians, providing housing for evacuees, and more. The central bank anticipated another NIS 35 billion ($9 billion) in lost tax revenue due to the war and NIS 23 billion ($6 billion) to compensate for direct war damages.
timesofisrael.com
