Kibbutz Bailout Package (1989)

Today's Golden Oldie is from 1989 ...twenty years ago this month.

Israel's Finance Minister at the time was Labor Party Leader Shimon Peres. The following is a background report by Joel Brinkley from the NY Times of March 05, 1989:

"A few kibbutzim are very profitable, and about half of them end the year in the black. But the successful kibbutzim are helping to shoulder the staggering debts of the failures. So, together, the kibbutzim have a debt that totals more than $4 billion that few people believe they will ever be able to repay - contributing significantly to Israel's current financial difficulties.

Last week, the Finance Ministry, headed by the Labor Party Leader Shimon Peres, came up with a recovery plan. At the Government's insistence, the commercial banks will write off about $560 million of the debt over the next several years. Another $1.7 billion will be rescheduled at a low interest rate."- the Full Story

* * * So was it a bailout, a stimulus package, or just a giveaway?