The former Ministry of Finance chief economist says exporting 400 BCM of gas will cost the economy billions of dollars

Home - Former Ministry of Finance chief economist Michael Sarel, who resigned because of his opposition to the 0% VAT plan for new apartments during the term of former Minister of Finance Yair Lapid, told the Knesset Economics Committee today that he opposed exports of natural gas.

"The government decision to export 400 BCM of gas will cost the economy billions of dollars in damage," Sarel asserted. He said the same thing in a report that he submitted in 2013, which was buried.

"The state's decision to export gas is based on a significant methodological error. The Tzemach Committee wanted to keep enough gas for the next 20-25 years, while allowing the rest to be exported. It did not, however, take maximization of the public benefit into account. It could be worthwhile, for example, to export all the gas, and use the money to build a nuclear power station, or to import other gas, and the opposite could also be true," Sarel declared.

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