So Professor Stanley Fischer, renowned international economist and governor of the Bank of Israel, is to leave his post after eight years.

As he is departing midterm and just after a general election, some newspapers smell a rat. Others concentrate on whether he did a good job. Fischer himself ticks off a list of successes.

I had a list of goals in front of me….. including the Bank of Israel Law which was passed by the Knesset, the bank workers’ wage agreement with the Treasury, the Bank of Israel’s reorganization………..The new system of corporation governing within the institution is very strong. There is an executive council with a chairman, which will take care of the bank’s administrative management, and the governor will not be involved in this issues. And we have the Monetary Committee, with three professors who are not part of the bank, which ensures that we don’t make any mistakes………….

On the less positive side, Fischer has noted that “I am also leaving the economy in a good shape, but with serious challenges. The challenges are to pass a budget which will allow a reasonably limited deficit and handling bureaucracy problems.”

And he added:

It’s a fact, a troubling fact, that in the past few years Israel’s average level in international surveys has gone down. We were in the 26th place six years ago, and now we’re in the 38th place. It’s not because the situation here deteriorated, but because the situation elsewhere improved. But in a competitive economy there is competition with other countries, and so problems in the decision-making system in Israel must be dealt with. We saw it happen in many measures taken by the government in terms of housing prices.

Fischer has his critics, such as Avi Temkin at the newspaper “Globes”. However, for me the issue is more straightforward. Did Fischer, for all his brain power, show leadership, resist political pressures, preserve the independence of Israel’s central bank and present a working monetary policy to the world? That is the core role of any central banker.

An initial review from Bloomberg reveals that overall Fischer got it right. Quoting Amir Kahanovich, chief economist at Clal Finance Brokerage Ltd. in Tel Aviv: “There is no doubt that foreign investors trusted him and the policies he put in place.” Despite wars and global recessions, Israel has been achieving 3-5% growth over the past decade. Prime Ministers and Finance Ministers may laud the praise amongst the electorate, yet it is the top civil servants who lead and guide them to those positions.

And that is the lesson for Netanyahu as he seeks Israel’s next king (or queen) of monetary policy. Whether or not they will be a person he knows personally, and Netanyahu seemingly has a habit for picking those around him, that same person has to have the strength of character to be able to say “NO”, yet do so in way the retains the confidence of others.

Stanley Fischer did that. We thank you.