Budget Director Gal Hershkowitz announced yesterday that he will leave his post when the Knesset passes the state budget in two months. However, sources inform ''Globes'' that this is effectively his resignation.
The resignation comes because new Ministry of Finance director general Yael Andoran does not want Hershkowitz as budget director. According to Ministry of Finance sources, she pushed Hershkowitz aside and effectively assumed his job, hinting at his future.
A possible candidate to succeed Hershkowitz is Israel Postal Company Ltd. CEO Yoel Naveh, who worked with Andoran during her previous stint in the Budget Department. Hershkowitz's departure is the second straight departure by a budget director after just two years in the job. His predecessor, Udi Nissan, also left earlier than expected.
Hershkowitz is not the only senior Ministry of Finance official appointed by former Minister of Finance Yuval Steinitz who is expected to leave. Supervisor of Capital Markets, Insurance and Savings Prof. Oded Sarig has also been mentioned as leaving the ministry this year, and the future of Director of Wages Kobi Amsalem is also uncertain. Acting Government Companies Authority director Ronnie Friedman is also expected to leave.
Hershkowitz was expected to complete a two-year term in August, after he was appointed budget director in August 2011, at the height of the social protest. Yesterday, he said that, after the budget was approved by the government, he decided to announce his intention to resign, and that the early announcement would give Minister of Finance Yair Lapid time to prepare.
Hershkowitz led a number of important measures, including the decision in January 2012 to end the program of tax cuts.
Lapid thanked Hershkowitz for his service in the difficult and exhausting job of budget director, and praised his contribution to th edrafting of the budget and its approval by the government. Lapid said that he would continue to closely work with Hershkowitz in the next two months to ensure the budget's approval by the Knesset.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on May 21, 2013
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2013