Poor infrastructure hinders investment

"It's very hard to attract investments if you don't have the infrastructure,” said Shachar Shaine, President of the Foreign Investors Council. Shaine went on to say that driving 1,000 kilometers in takes twice as long as in Western European countries. The Foreign Investors Council has made several proposals for improving the regulations governing public acquisition procedure for the transport infrastructure in order to allow the Government to offset the meager national budget with European funds. According to the FIC, this year's budget, 380 million Euro, will allow the creation of 10,000 - 15,000 jobs in highway construction projects. However, a budget of one billion Euro would increase the number of jobs to 30,000 - 50,000.