[VIDEO IN EXTENDED ARTICLE]

At the start of the weekly cabinet meeting on Sunday, 15 Teves, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu commented on a number of items while the media was present. His comments included a plan to assist small business launches as well as lowering the cost of public transportation.

“As Economy Minister, I am submitting – along with my friend, the Finance Minister – a proposal that is big news for small businesses, a plan that will make it dramatically easier for anyone who opens a new business, in the first three years. Small businesses are bending under the bureaucratic burden, under a burden of regulations, fees and other restrictions that we impose on them. We are going to free them from most of this burden in order to allow them to grow. Small businesses are a considerable growth engine and we know that this will, of course, lead to greater employment and to our economic development. Therefore, this step is vital and innovative. I think that it is a correct and important economic step.

“An additional measure that we will advance today to lower the cost of living, together with Minister Deri, is a proposal to lower transportation prices by 17%, and of course to lower the price of water. This is a social measure of the highest order…”

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)