Israel will modify its 2023-2024 national budget as the previous one is "no longer relevant" given the conflict with Palestine, its finance minister said Wednesday, and sounded unfazed by S&P Global's downgrade of the country's outlook to "negative" from "stable."
While putting the direct cost of the conflict at around 1 billion shekels ($246 million) a day to Israel, Bezalel Smotrich said in an Army Radio broadcast that he did not yet have an assessment of the indirect costs on an economy partly paralyzed by the mass mobilization of military reservists and extensive Palestinian rocket salvoes.
Over 5,790 Palestinians, mainly civilians and mostly children, have been killed across the Gaza Strip in massive Israeli bombardments after the Palestinian resistance group Hamas launched a surprise attack against Israel on Oct. 7.
Some 1,400 people are said to have been killed in Israel.
Smotrich described the S&P downward revision from "stable" published on Tuesday as "alarmist" and said he did not anticipate major Israeli deficits despite the crisis.
He praised Bank of Israel Governor Amir Yaron, who was due to have stepped down but extended his tenure due to the crisis, for "functioning above and beyond." But Smotrich would not be drawn on whether Yaron should be formally kept in office.
"We don't have time to breathe, so we're not dealing with this (question) now," he said.
