Outgoing bank head receives accolades for his work

Stanley Fischer, the outgoing governor of the Bank of Israel, on Monday morning bade farewell to the Knesset Finance Committee, referring to his term at the helm of Israel’s central bank as a “privilege.”

With three weeks left in the job, Fischer credited the professional staff at the Bank of Israel for having “played a large role in everything we did” and said, “it was a privilege for me to have the opportunity to be the governor of the Bank of Israel.”

Fischer said, “The reason we got through the global crisis relatively well was that the economy was in good shape at the start of it. In 2007, the budget was balanced and there was a current account surplus. We had a small recession, but it lasted six months, not six years.”

Fischer, who has held the post since 2005, stood by the bank’s accomplishments during his tenure, citing an average annual growth of 4.3%, higher than the average among developed countries. He also said that the average annual inflation rate was 2.5 percent during his stewardship, which he described as “OK.”

Opposition leader Shelly Yachimovich (Labor Party), called Fischer a “financial leader” and “my favorite capitalist.”

Former Knesset speaker Reuven Rivlin (Likud-Beytenu) also had praise for Fischer, saying that he had demonstrated an ability to “make tough choices” and that he was not “a representative of the government, but rather a representative of the people.”

Rivlin hailed Fischer for standing up against forces whose “populist goals were to bend the economy into a political issue,” but failed thanks to the governor’s professionalism and expertise, and, in particular, the public’s faith in him.

Fischer, 69, was born in Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia) and lived in Southern Rhodesia (modern Zimbabwe) before his family moved to the United States. He served as the chief economist at the World Bank in the late 1980s and as first deputy managing director of the International Monetary Fund from 1994 to 2001.

In January, Fischer submitted his resignation to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He told Netanyahu he wanted to step down in April, but the prime minister convinced him to delay the resignation until June. His term was originally set to end in two years.

In 2005, on the recommendation of then-prime minister Ariel Sharon and then-finance minister Netanyahu, the cabinet appointed Fischer for a five-year term as governor of the Bank of Israel. On accepting the position, Fischer moved to Israel.

In 2010, Fischer was appointed to a second term, which was due to end in mid-2015. His replacement has yet to be named.