Eight years ago, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu surprised the world after persuading former IMF deputy chief, Stanley Fischer, to sit as Bank of Israel's governor. However, after disregarding his first successor choice, JPMorgan's Chairman Jacob Frenkel, Netanyahu picked Leo Leiferman, an Israeli economist and a former research head of the central bank.
Yesterday, Netanyahu and Finance Minister, Yair Lapid announced the appointment that caused the central bank's acting governor, Karnit Flug, to resign after being by passed for the second time. Once the appointment is confirmed, Leiderman will sit as the new head of the central bank at a time when the shekel needs to be boosted, a slow growth in the economy, sluggish global demand and surging housing prices.
The Israeli currency increased to as high as 3.5676 per US dollar after the announcement of the new central bank head. The shekel has rallied by 4.6% this year for the largest advance among thirty one other major currencies as tracked by Bloomberg.
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