Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Finance Minister Yair Lapid, appointed Dr Karnit Flug as the new Governor of the Bank of Israel (BOI), Israel’s central bank.
"We have been impressed by Dr. Flug's performance as Acting Governor in recent months and we are certain that she will continue to assist us in moving the Israeli economy to additional achievements in the face of the global economic upheaval," they said.
She has served as acting governor since the resignation of Stanley Fischer earlier this year.
She will be the first woman to take the position.
Dr.Flug has been the Deputy Governor of the Bank of Israel since July 2011.
She completed her M.A (cum laude) at the Hebrew University in 1980 and her Ph.D. in Economics at Columbia University in 1985.
In 1984, she joined the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as an economist. In 1988, she returned to Israel and joined the Research Department of the Bank of Israel, where she worked and published papers on topics related to the labor market, balance of payments and macroeconomic policies.
In 1994-1996, while on leave from the BOI, she worked at the Inter-American Development Bank as a senior research economist. In 1997, upon return to the BOI she was appointed Assistant Director of the Research Department and in June 2001 she was appointed Director of the Research Department and a member of the BOI's senior management.
Dr. Flug has served on a number of public committees, including the committee on a multi-year defense budget (the "Brodet" committee), the committee aimed at ensuring the long term financial stability of the National Insurance Institute, the committee aimed at enhancing competition within the Israeli markets, the committee for social and economic change (the "Trajtenberg" committee).
The tapping of Flug for the influential post comes after a months-long process in which several foreign candidates were offered the post, but turned it down. Flug, whom Fischer had recommended for the position upon his resignation, was named after Lawrence Summers, a former US Treasury Secretary and president of Harvard University, turned down the post last week.
The Bank of Israel was established in 1954. It is situated in Kiryat Ben Gurion in Jerusalem, close to the Knesset, Israel's parliament, the Supreme Court, and government ministries.
The Bank is independent, and its objectives and operating methods are specified in the Bank of Israel Law, 5770-2010. Its objectives are to maintain price stability, to support the government's objectives -- especially growth and employment, and to support the stability of the financial system.