Stanley Fischer will become the next governor of the Bank of Israel. Fischer, a Citigroup vice chairman and former first deputy managing director at the IMF, will succeed David Klein and begin a five-year term, subject to Cabinet approval.
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu first offered Fischer the job several weeks ago, according to the prime minister’s office. Netanyahu had criticized Klein for maintaining a tight monetary policy. Israel’s inflation is almost zero and lending rates at an all-time low.
Sharon called the appointment “a golden opportunity for the Israeli economy.” Fischer, who has advised the Israeli government on several occasions in the past, said in a statement that he was “honoured.”
Born in Zambia, Fischer is a naturalized US citizen. He will be granted Israeli citizenship upon his request to immigrate, said Sharon’s office. Fischer joined Citigroup in February 2002 and most recently headed the bank’s public sector group.
Fischer has extensive experience in the public sector. Aside from the IMF, he was chief economist at the World Bank in the early 1990s and, before that, economics professor at MIT for 22 years. He was also a visitning professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 1972.