Israel govt expected to decide on new central bank chief next week -source

JERUSALEM- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon are expected to announce their choice for a new central bank chief in the coming days, a government source said on Thursday.

"It will be soon -- probably next week," the source told Reuters, without elaborating.

The Finance Ministry and Prime Minister's Office declined to comment.

Bank of Israel Governor Karnit Flug concludes her five-year term on Nov. 12 and she has decided not to stand for a second term. If a successor is not named by then, deputy governor Nadine Baudot-Trajtenberg would likely replace her in the interim.

Mario Blejer, a former head of Argentina’s central bank, is considered the favourite to replace Flug, although Israeli economics professors Ben-Zion Zilberfarb and Efraim Sadka and Amir Yaron, a finance professor at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, have also been interviewed.

(Reporting by Steven Scheer; Editing by Toby Chopra) ((steven.scheer@thomsonreuters.com; +972 2 632 2210; Reuters Messaging: steven.scheer.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net; Twitter: @StevenMScheer))