Israel Doesn’t Plan Widespread Business Support for Omicron Wave

(Bloomberg) -- Israel isn’t planning widespread new coronavirus assistance for businesses during the current omicron-driven wave of cases, Finance Minister Avigdor Liberman said Sunday. 

The comments come as Israel sees a spike in infections that’s predicted to reach more than 50,000 a day by next week. As recently as mid-December, daily cases were in the hundreds.  

Concerns have been raised about the costs the surge could have on Israel’s economy, which bounced back from the pandemic in 2021 on the back of a strong technology sector and is predicted by the Bank of Israel to grow by 5.5% this year. 

“We must help every business that gets hit,” Liberman said at a press conference broadcast from the Finance Ministry in Jerusalem. “But at the end of the day, most businesses are in excellent shape, and I’m happy about that.” 

He added that it was “too soon” to panic about the impact of the omicron surge on growth in the year ahead. 

While cases have jumped sharply in recent weeks, most have been mild. Hospitalizations remain significantly lower than in previous waves, but have been rising in recent days.  

Many countries are struggling with high worker absences from cases that have reached record levels during the current wave, and could flow through to economic damage.  

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