A prominent ultra-Orthodox lawmaker said on Monday that he would explore avenues to freeze fast-climbing mortgage rates as successive hikes to the Bank of Israel's key interest rate are putting a squeeze on home buyers.
A stormy hearing of the Knesset's Finance Committee saw United Torah Judaism MK and committee chairman Moshe Gafni slam the central bank for "inconsiderately" raising its key rate in an effort to curb the country's high inflation.
Gafni said he would ask the committee's legal advisor to draft a bill that would leave mortgage rates unaffected by future rate hikes to "protect first-time home buyers."
Israeli banks have warned that untwining the two was impossible and such a freeze would only prevent banks from handing out loans on housing.
Bank of Israel Governor Prof. Amir Yaron refused to commit there won't be further rate hikes in the future, raising the ire of committee members from the Likud and ultra-Orthodox parties.
"We see in the forecasts that inflation will begin subsiding in the first quarter of 2023, and will decrease faster in the second quarter and toward the summer," he said.
Yaron also said that the recent opening of a new digital bank should increase competition in the banking market for the benefit of customers.
Gafni said that while he wasn't looking to strip banks of their autonomy, it was incumbent on him to examine the possible ramifications of the central bank's decisions, also adding a dig at Finance Minister Avigdor Liberman, a long-standing political rival, who he said was "doing nothing to combat the rising cost of living."
Yaron noted that Israel's inflation situation was considerably better than that of the rest of the world, standing at 5.1%.