IDF operating in north
Photo: Aviv Divon, IDF Spokesman Unit
MAI Chairman Shraga Brosh
Katyusha war deals blow to industry
Daily financial damage to industry as result of fighting estimated at NIS 400 million (USD 89 million)
Industrial plants in northern Israel have sustained financial damages estimated at about NIS 300-400 million (USD 67-89 million) a day due to work suspension alone.
The current estimate exceeds prior ones, which predicted damages will total tens of millions of shekels daily. Dan and Bardstreet estimated last week that the economy as a whole suffered a NIS 500 million (USD 111 million) worth of financial damage, including direct damages caused by the Katyusha blasts, the serious affect on tourism and agriculture, the cessation of trade, etc.
However, chairman of the Manufacturers Association of Israel, Shraga Brosh, said that "this is only a pro mil of the Israeli industry's overall sales. The industry is strong enough to overcome the difficulties, as it did in the past."
North communities to be compensated?
An inspection carried out by the MAI's emergency headquarters revealed that at least 30 percent of the 1,800 industrial factories north of Haifa have continued operating as usual, 35 percent are partly operative and about 35 percent have been shut down completely.
"The Manufacturers Association of Israel will make every effort to assist any of the damaged factories," Brosh promised. On Monday, Brosh turned to the finance minister and asked him to apply the "frontier community" definition to all communities exposed to attacks in the north, not only to those located on the border. Altering the communities' definition will required the government to compensate plant owners for the losses caused by the fighting.
