Elections to cost Israeli economy NIS 1.5B
From state funding for parties, to vote counters, to indirect cost to market, Netanyahu's decision to go to elections will cost Israeli anywhere between NIS 450M to just NIS 1.5B.
The decision to hold elections within a year will cost the Israeli taxpayer heavily. The direct costs of the democratic process, based on the last election cycle, stand at some 450 million shekels – but the indirect costs of subverting the market for a full day may reach up to 1.5 billion shekels.
Nearly half of the upfront cost will be allocated to funding the factions, with the other half to pay for a variety of expenses, including operating the polls and paying wages for workers who receive a paid vacation day.
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The elections, the second in less than two years, will also have other economic ramifications: Dissolving the Knesset and government ahead of the 2015 elections will prevent the current Knesset from voting on a budget for next years, forcing Israel to use an ad hoc 'transition' budget.
The 'transition' budge replicates the previous budget on a monthly basis but fixed for intrest, giving the government the exact amount of money they enjoyed that month the same year.
However, the proposed 2015 budget was supposed to grow nominally by NIS 12.5B, some NIS 8.2 of which were a result of a decision to raise the government spending cap, and NIS 4.3B from a one-time decision to allow the government surpass even that cap.
The transitional budget will not include any of those provisions; instead government ministers will be authorized on a monthly and ad hoc basis by the head accountant, calculated at a ratio of 12:1 of the 2014 budget.
