Former Bank of Israel governor to resume role

Jacob Frenkel, who served as the Bank of Israel governor between 1991 and 2000, will resume the role and replace outgoing Stanley Fischer, the Channel 2 news reported on Sunday evening. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been fervently looking for a replacement for Fischer who announced in January he will step down in June. Prior to his first term as the Israeli central bank governor, Frenkel served as the chief economic adviser and research manager at the International Monetary Fund (IMF). He then served as the vice chairman of the American International Group and in 2009 he was appointed as the chairman of JP Morgan Chase International, one of the three largest banks in the United States. Frenkel will resume his role as the Israeli central bank governor at a crucial time, as the Israeli treasury's deficit reached 11 billion U.S. dollars. The finance ministry is currently working on authorizing an austerity budget which will include 4 billion dollars in tax hikes and cuts of 5 billion dollars on government spending.