The Israeli Ministry of Finance has asked the OECD to include a section on banking competition in its regular biennial report on the Israeli economy.
At the same time, according to the ynet portal, the Ministry of Finance did not inform the management of the Bank of Israel about its request.
It should be noted that conducting an audit on a specific topic in addition to the general report is traditional for the OECD, and the topic of the audit is usually chosen by the leadership of the country on which the report is being prepared.
According to the ynet portal, the choice of the Ministry of Finance angered the Chairman of the Bank of Israel, Professor Amir Yaron. The leadership of the central bank demands to change the topic of the inspection, since in wartime such a procedure can lead to a weakening of the stability of the banking system, and the results of the inspection can be used for various populist initiatives.
The press service of the Bank of Israel emphasized that the bank would be happy to conduct an audit in peacetime.