Karnit Flug ( he, קרנית פלוג; born January 9, 1955) is a Polish-born Israeli economist and government official who served as the 9th governor of the

Bank of Israel The Bank of Israel ( he, בנק ישראל, ar, بنك إسرائيل) is the central bank of Israel. The bank's headquarters is located in Kiryat HaMemshala in Jerusalem with a branch office in Tel Aviv. The current governor is Amir Yaron. T ...

from 2013 to 2018. She was the first, and to date the only, woman to hold that position.

Biography

Karnit Flug graduated with a master's degree in economics from Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 1980, and a PhD in economics from

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manha ...

in 1985. In 1984 she joined the

International Monetary Fund The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is a major financial agency of the United Nations, and an international financial institution, headquartered in Washington, D.C., consisting of 190 countries. Its stated mission is "working to foster gl ...

as an economist, then returned to Israel in 1988 and joined the Research Department of the

. In 1994 Dr. Flug was on leave from the central bank for two years, assigned to work at the

Inter-American Development Bank The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB or IADB) is an international financial institution headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States of America, and serving as the largest source of development financing for Latin America and the Cari ...

in Washington D.C. as a Senior Research Economist. She returned to BoI in 1997 while appointed deputy director of the Research Department, then elevated to Department's Director and a member of the Bank's senior management in June 2001, a position she held for ten years. In July 2011, Flug appointed by the Israeli Government as deputy governor of the Bank of Israel, on the recommendation of the BoI Governor

Stanley Fischer Stanley Fischer ( he, סטנלי פישר; born October 15, 1943) is an Israeli American economist who served as the 20th Vice Chair of the Federal Reserve from 2014 to 2017. Fisher previously served as the 8th governor of the Bank of Israel ...

. She served as Acting Governor from July 2013 until November, after Fisher's resignation. In October 2013, she was offici