Accountant general not against higher defense spending

Ministry of Finance accountant general Michal Abadi-Boiangiu stated she is not opposed to reopening the state budget to increase defense spending, provided the fiscal deficit limit of 4.9% of GDP is not breached. She noted that the actual deficit will be lower than the limit by tens of billions of shekels, which could meet most of the IDF's demands. She also suggested reserving funds from the NIS 400 billion defense strengthening budget for future years and ordering urgent munitions under cancelable contracts.

Ministry of Finance accountant general Michal Abadi-Boiangiu stated this week that she is not opposed to reopening the state budget to increase defense spending, provided the fiscal deficit limit of 4.9% of GDP is not breached. In a conference call with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, opposition leader Yair Lapid, and senior defense officials, she noted that the actual deficit will be lower than the limit by tens of billions of shekels, sufficient to meet most of the IDF's demands. The defense establishment claims a shortfall of NIS 25 billion against a current budget of NIS 158 billion. Abadi-Boiangiu suggested reserving part of the NIS 400 billion budget for strengthening the IDF for future years and ordering urgently needed munitions under contracts that can be cancelled by the next government. She stressed that exceeding the deficit limit falls under the jurisdiction of Budget Commissioner Maharan Frozenfar and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who was not on the call. In a press briefing, she said 2027 will be another complicated year for the defense budget, with rehabilitation costs alone climbing to nearly NIS 14 billion.