State Comptroller Matanyahu Engelman opened the annual professional conference of the Office of Internal Auditors in Israel this morning (Thursday) and spoke about the cost of living, against the background of the program presented last night by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich.
According to him, “As we know, the entire world, including the State of Israel, has been suffering from rising inflation for the past year. This affects all of us, especially the poor among us, as shown in the poverty report published today. I would like to say here that in recent months we have been in the midst of a comprehensive review of the cost of living in the State Israel”.
“Among other things, we are checking the state’s preparation for the outbreak of inflation, the regulation of the dairy industry and the Israeli governments’ housing plans. These are added to the reports we have already published in recent months on digital banking, competitiveness in the automobile industry and monopolies in the food market.”
The auditor added, “I call on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich to correct the deficiencies and adopt the recommendations we published in the audit reports to help lower the cost of living.”
“On the subject of inflation, we are examining how the country managed the preparation for the rampant inflation, how it dealt with the issue from the moment it erupted, we will examine the effect of inflation in the planning of the annual budget, and we will also include comparisons of how other countries in the world deal with inflation.”
“Inflation and interest rate increases directly affect both mortgage repayments and the government’s commitments and this topic will also be examined. Regarding the cost of housing – during the year 2022 we examined the actions of the Israel Land Authority regarding the planning and marketing of residential land. The subjects examined were, among others, the implementation of the strategic plan For housing, the urban renewal, the transfer of IDF camps from the center to the south, how long the processing of the plans in the planning committees, marketing and execution of residential land transactions, and more.
He also wrote, “Most of the criticism was done in the RMI. Completion inspections were done in the planning administration of the Ministry of the Interior, the Ministry of Construction and Housing, the Israel Mapping Center, the Ministry of Finance, the Prime Minister’s Office and the Central Bureau of Statistics. When I assumed the position of State Comptroller, I set myself the goal of conducting audits in the Citizen’s Mirror and investigating the problems in depth. The price of the apartments also directly affects the rental prices. This is what the report will deal with.”