The Israeli cabinet Wednesday voted to pass the 2009-2010 budget, local daily The Jerusalem Post reported.
Despite opposition from Shas party, a key coalition partner, Israeli cabinet approved the budget, with 26 cabinet ministers voting for the bill while the four Shas ministers against it, said the report.
Following the cabinet approval, the budget will now have to be approved by Israel's Knesset (parliament).
The vote came hours after marathon late-night negotiations produced an agreement for an across-the-board cut of 5 percent to all government ministry budgets, and a raising of value-added-tax by 1 percent.
As part of the deal, the defense budget is expected to be cut by 1.5 billion shekels (about 365 million U.S. dollars). Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak, as well as officials in his ministry, had opposed any such cuts.
Meanwhile, local daily Ha'aretz reported that value-added-tax will also be applied to fruits and vegetables for the first time in Israel's history, which is expected to add 1.8 billion shekels to the government coffers over the next two years. (1 U.S. dollar equals 4.1 Israeli shekels)
Source: Xinhua
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