"The public ought to be very pleased by selection of Karnit Flug," former Governor of the Bank of Israel Stanley Fischer told Channel 2 News in an interview on Monday night about Flug's appointment as his successor.
"I worked with her both as head of the Research Department and as deputy governor. She has analytical skills, the courage to tackle problems, and I think that she will be an excellent governor," said Fischer.
Asked about Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's consulting him during the selection process for the governor, Fischer said, "I cannot comment about private conversations. Naturally the prime minister spoke with me a few times, but that is known."
Fischer added, "I didn’t expect this to take such a long time, but I knew throughout the process that the prime minister and finance minister sought the best candidate. After they saw how Karnit managed the bank over the past four months, they decided that she was the strongest and most suitable person, and, in my opinion, they made the right decision."
Commenting on Minister of Finance Yair Lapid's falling public support, according to polls, Fischer said, "I have no information about this. In our discussions, he showed that he understood the economic situation, and I am impressed by this. I don’t want to get into these matters, but I hope that the public's confidence will strengthen."
As for real estate prices, Fischer said, "The Bank of Israel's problem is that it can deal with the demand side, but without a response from the supply side, from the government side, the effect on demand, or what the Bank of Israel can do, is weak. In the meantime, I think that the Bank of Israel has succeeded in moderating what is happening in the real estate market, but it would be far preferable to have a strong response on the supply side, which, in general, is in the government's hands, and it knows this."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on October 22, 2013
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