Israel's Fischer boasts strong resume for IMF job

JERUSALEM: Israeli central bank chief Stanley Fischer, who has announced his candidacy for IMF chief, is credited with having steered an economic "miracle" in Israel despite the global downturn.

His candidacy, the subject of much speculation in Israel in recent weeks, was announced at the 11th hour and has shaken up the race for the key post, which is normally held by a European.

His main rivals are French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde, the presumed frontrunner, and Mexico's central bank chief Agustin Carstens, who is also angling to become the first non-European head of the fund.

Despite media speculation, Fischer had been coy over seeking the post, telling Israeli public radio this week: "One must never accept a position that no one has offered you."

But his candidacy has won favour among many, with commentators in leading financial publications including the Financial Times, the Wall Street Journal and Euromoney magazine all expressing support.

Fischer has been credited for keeping Israel's economy growing even as the global downturn ravaged other nations.

Reappointed in March for a second five-year term at the head of Israel's central bank, Fischer can boast a 5.0pc growth rate projected for the Jewish state this year and foreign reserves of $77.4 billion.

He has strongly championed bolstering foreign reserves to rein in the strength of the shekel and boost Israeli exports.

His tenure has made him both trusted and popular in Israel, with the economic newspaper, The Marker, running an article under the headline: "Please don't go."

Born in October 15, 1943 in Northern Rhodesia, now Zambia, Fischer studied in both Britain and the United States, where he graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, before taking US citizenship.

In January 2005, he became Israeli under the Law of Return, which allows Jews to obtain citizenship when they emigrate to the Jewish state.

Under Israeli law, its senior officials are not allowed to hold a second nationality, which would have required Fischer to renounce his US passport. But Israel offered to make an exception to bring him on at the central bank.

"Stanley Fischer was authorised to keep his US citizenship as a special privilege when he took on the job of central bank governor," bank spokesman Yossi Saadon told AFP on Sunday.

But his US citizenship could be an obstacle to his candidacy at the IMF, where tradition dictates that the top post is reserved for a European, with an American at the helm of the World Bank.

At 67, his age is another handicap, as IMF rules usually cap applications for the top job at 65.

But Fischer does come with experience at the world's top financial institutions.

Between 1988 and 1990, he was a vice president and chief economist at the World Bank, and between 1994 and 2001, he served as a deputy managing director at the IMF, the number two position.

He has also spent time in the private sector, serving as vice chairman of Citigroup and president of Citigroup International between 2002 and 2005.

During his time at the IMF he worker with US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on resolving the Asia crisis and was previously a candidate to replace Geithner at the New York Federal Reserve.

His time at the head of Israel's central bank has won him supporters at home and overseas, with Euromoney magazine naming him their central bank governor of the year for 2010.

The magazine praised Fischer for his "bold move" to raise interest rates in September 2009, making Israel the first country to do so, saying his decision "proved well-guided and prescient."

Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2011