Interview with BoI governor candidate Mario Blejer canceled

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Minister of Finance Moshe Kahlon will not interview Dr. Mario Blejer today for the post of governor of the Bank of Israel. The meeting was canceled this morning with no explanation.

Netanyahu and Kahlon were scheduled to meet with Blejer, a close associate of businessperson Eduardo Elsztain. As far as is known, Blejer considers himself a candidate to succeed Dr. Karnit Flug, who finishes her term in November, as the next governor of the Bank of Israel.

Blejer was a candidate for the position in August 2013 and met with Netanyahu and then-Minister of Finance Yair Lapid, but Netanyahu and Lapid were not convinced that he was the right person for the job.

As of now, Blejer is the only remaining name on Netanyahu's original list of candidates for governor of the Bank of Israel, after former Governor Jacob Frenkel and former National Economic Council head Eugene Kandel refused the job. American Jewish economist Prof. Martin Eichenbaum from Northwestern University, whose candidacy was first reported in "Globes," also declined Netanyahu's offer.

Blejer, a renowned economist, with a BA and MA from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, is a former Governor of the Central Bank of Argentina and former advisor to the Governor of the Bank of England. Among other things, he represents Elsztain as a director in IDB Development and plays a leading role in Elsztain's business in Argentina.

Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on August 13, 2018

Interview with BoI governor candidate Mario Blejer canceled

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Minister of Finance Moshe Kahlon were meant to interview the former Governor of the Central Bank of Argentina today.