Israel Launches Sovereign Wealth Fund

Israel launched a sovereign wealth fund, called the Israeli Citizens’ Fund, Wednesday to manage state revenues from natural resources, the Finance Ministry said in a statement. The fund includes income from levies imposed on the profits of franchise energy companies due to their sale of natural resources, such as natural gas, oil, and potash. By law, the fund is to be used for the benefit of Israeli residents, and in particular for social, economic, and educational purposes. The fund was first established in 2014, after the discovery of the Tamar and Leviathan natural gas fields in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Israel. But the law establishing the fund stipulates that it only becomes active once the tax revenue exceeds 1 billion shekels (currently around $300 million). Finance Minister Avigdor Liberman on Wednesday signed an order to activate the fund after the tax authority informed him that the total amount of levies collected had reached 1.14 billion shekels, according to the ministry.