Karnit Flug (; 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 (, ) 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. The primary objective of the Bank of Israel is to ...

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 The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; ) is an Israeli public university, public research university based in Jerusalem. Co-founded by Albert Einstein and Chaim Weizmann in July 1918, the public university officially opened on 1 April 1925. ...

in 1980, and a PhD in economics from

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

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 funded by 191 member countries, with headquarters in Washington, D.C. It is regarded as the global lender of las ...

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 development finance institution headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States of America. It serves as one of the leading sources of development financing for the countri ...

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. She served as Acting Governor from July 2013 until November, after Fisher's resignation. In October 2013, she was officially nominated to be the next Governor of the Bank of Israel by Prime Minister

Benjamin Netanyahu Benjamin Netanyahu (born 21 October 1949) is an Israeli politician who has served as the prime minister of Israel since 2022, having previously held the office from 1996 to 1999 and from 2009 to 2021. Netanyahu is the longest-serving prime min ...

, edging out initially chosen former BoI chief Jacob Frenkel, ending several months of uncertainty. On November 13, 2013, she was sworn in as governor, becoming the first woman to take the position.

Awards and recognition

Flug won an "A" grade three times in Global Finance Magazine's annual Central Banker Report Cards, and was repeatedly considered one of the best bank governors in the world.

Published works

* Karnit Flug, Nitsa (Kaliner) Kasir and Ofer Gur, "Absorption of Soviet Immigrants into the Israeli Labor Market: Occupational Substitution and Retention", in: "''Immigrants: Liability or Asset?''", Naomi Carmon (editor), p. 279-378, 1993. * Karnit Flug and Nitsa (Kaliner) Kasir, "Labor Costs in Israeli Industry", ''Economic Review'', Vol. 67, p. 21-44, 1993. * Karnit Flug and Nitsa (Kaliner) Kasir,
The Absorption in the Labor Market of Immigrants from the CIS - the Short Run
''The Economy Quarterly'', 1995. * Karnit Flug, Nitsa (Kaliner) Kasir and Ofer Gur, "The Absorption of Soviet Immigrants into the Labour Market: Aspects of Occupational Substitution and Retention", in: "''Russian Jews on Three Continents – Migration and Resettlement''", Lewin-Epstein, Ro'u and Ritterbans (editors), p. 433-470, 1997. * Karnit Flug and Nitsa (Kaliner) Kasir
Poverty and Employment and the Gulf between them
, ''Israel Economic Review'', Vol. 1, p. 55-80, 2003. * Karnit Flug and Nitsa (Kaliner) Kasir,
The Single Parent Law, Labor Supply and Poverty
, ''Israel Economic Review'', Vol. 4, NO. 1, April, p. 59-110, 2006.

References

External links

Profile
at the

{{DEFAULTSORT:Flug, Karnit 1955 births Living people Hebrew University of Jerusalem Faculty of Social Sciences alumni Columbia Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni Israeli women economists Hebrew University Secondary School alumni

Biography

Awards and recognition

Published works

See also

References

External links