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צילום: שאול גולן
Subsidized bread prices to rise
Government to stop supervising subsidized bread prices as part of 2008 budget's Arrangements Law. Bread prices expected to increase by 10%-20%
The prices of subsidized bread will no longer be directly supervised by the government, Industry, Trade and Labor Minister Eli Yishai told Ynet on Thursday.
Prices of subsidized bread have been under government supervision since Israel's austerity period, in the late 1940s and early 1950s.The decision was part of the Arrangements Law, which is included in the government's 2008 budget. Once bread prices are no longer under government supervision, they are expected to rise between 10% and 20%, but any such change would still require the government's approval.
"The Arrangements Law included $14.6 million in compensatory funds, which are supposed to help the lower classes to cope with the rise in bread prices," said Yishai.
"These funds are just the beginning of the monetary support system we intend to put in place, and bread prices will remain supervised until the support system is in place," he added.
