Israel's Netanyahu submits plan to ease regulatory burden

[July 08, 2019]    JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu submitted a plan to the cabinet on Sunday that aims to save the economy a further 1.5 billion shekels ($420 million) a year and millions of days waiting for permits by reducing the regulatory burden.

The plan from 12 ministries and the tax and two other authorities aims to cancel or reduce more than 50 requirements. For example, it cancels the demand for a license and test to be a real estate broker and cancels the requirement for a minimum number of vehicles to receive a license to operate a vehicle leasing company.

In addition, over 50 digitized government processes, such as transition to online licensing examinations, were enacted.

The proposals are part of the government's five-year plan to reduce the regulatory burden that seeks to lead to annual cumulative savings of more than 4 billion shekels, the prime minister's office said.

Israel is ranked 49th out of 190 countries in the World Bank's ease of doing business index. That's down from 51 last year, but well above a ranking of 29 a decade ago.

(Reporting by Steven Scheer; Editing by Tova Cohen)

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