On Saturday evening, Israel’s Treasury accepted a four-stage coronavirus exit plan to revive the Israeli economy, presented by a specially commissioned finance committee.
The committee, made up of economists and financial experts from the Ministry of Finance, Bank of Israel, the National Council of Economists, and the Ministry of Economy, recommended that Israel slowly transition out of the current coronavirus restrictions in two-week phases, in order to kick start the economy while minimizing health risks to the public.
The committee recommended that high-tech and financial sectors ramp up first due to their high contribution to Israel’s GDP. In spite of the potential health risks, the committee also recommended that stores and malls also be opened relatively soon, albeit within limits.
“It is necessary to begin to restore the economy gradually, in line with the steps that will be implemented immediately after Passover, in order to prevent economic collapse and irreparable damage,” wrote the committee.
According to the outline recommended by the committee, the economic restoration will happen in four two-week stages. The transition from stage to stage will be subject to metrics set by the Ministry of Health.
In the first two weeks after Passover, from April 19 through May 3, the number of employees in the workplace will be raised to 50 percent (up from 15 percent currently) and a limited number of street shops and open-air shopping centers will return to business. Special education schools and kindergartens will reopen and the public will be able to leave their homes for reasons other than essential purchases.
In the second phase, from May 3 through May 17, half of elementary school students (grades 1-3) will return to class and malls and open air markets will reopen, under restrictions. In the third phase, which begins a month after Passover, starting May 17, recreational spaces that can maintain social distancing like gyms, nature reserves, libraries, and museums will be reopened. Densely crowded leisure spaces like stadiums, theaters and cinemas will remain closed.
In the fourth phase, from May 31st onward, all closed businesses will be opened. One subject that was not broached in the plan was resuming international flights to a pre-corona situation.
Encouraging the reopening of commercial businesses, the committee issued a warning to the government, writing that “harming the income of hundreds of thousands of low-income households with limited financial reserves could hurt the public’s willingness to comply with the health restrictions required to cope with the epidemic, especially considering the fact that disease risks are not uniformly distributed across all levels of the population.”
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i think it is interesting to look at others' plans to see what might work here. obviously most of the world is looking to balance health and economic considerations.
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