The world heaved a sigh of relief at the passage of a deal to avert the US
“fiscal cliff,” Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz said Wednesday.
Israel
was pleased with the outcome, given its deep economic ties with the United
States, he added.
The last-minute deal, which passed in Congress
overnight on Tuesday, averted a series of automatic tax increases and spending
cuts that could have thrown the US back into a recession.
Steinitz
congratulated US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on the deal, saying it
provided stability and prevented an exacerbation of the economic crisis in the
US. He is due to travel to Washington to meet with Geithner early next
week.
The Tel Aviv Stock Exchange registered a modest jump in response to
the news, with a 0.73% increase in the TASE-100 on Wednesday, building on the
2.45% increase on Tuesday, when the first signs of a deal emerged.
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