Fortunately, policy makers in the advanced economies had learned from the mistakes of their predecessors during the Great Depression of the early 1930s, and a repeat of that era was avoided. So, although things were bad enough, they could have been much worse. But the path to recovery has not been easy.
First, I would like to thank the outgoing Supervisor of Banks, Yoav Lehman, for his 28 years of service to the Bank of Israel and to Israel’s economy, and I would also like to congratulate the new Supervisor, Rony Hizkiyahu, and wish him success in confronting the important challenges facing him within the Bank of Israel and vis-a-vis the banking system.