Treasury chief Shlomi Heisler to step down

Ministry of Finance director general Shlomi Heisler has tendered his resignation to Minister of Finance Bezalel Smotrich, and will step down in January, after the 2025 state budget is passed by the Knesset Finance Committee. Heisler has been in the post for two years. His resignation is for personal reasons.

“I took on this important role with holy awe, in one of the most challenging periods that the State of Israel and Israeli society have ever known. After two years, and after the intensive stage of the war is over, residents can return to their homes in the north and the south, and when the budget, including the trapped profits reform, is being passed by the Knesset, for personal reasons, I have tendered my resignation to the minister finance. I have worked hand in hand with the minister, and I very much regret the constraint that compels me to leave my post now. I am sure that, with God’s help, our paths will cross again in the future.”

As early as last August, Heisler said in private conversation that the main task in front of him was to pass the new budget, and that afterwards he would consider his professional future. He said these things when he was recovering from a medical event, the government was delaying preparation of the budget, Israel’s credit rating had been downgraded, and the atmosphere in the Ministry of Finance was particularly murky.

The delays at that time have led to a situation in which, days before the end of the year, the 2025 budget has still not been approved. It is, however, on the legislative track in the Knesset, and once its passage through the Knesset Finance Committee is secured, Heisler will step down.

Because of the circumstances of the war, Heisler found himself responsible for the unprecedented output of four state budgets within two years. He led the team that formulated the main reform by the Ministry of Finance for next year: the taxation of trapped profits in personal service companies.

Heisler came to the Ministry of Finance from the real estate sector. He previously served as head of the National Planning Staff in the Ministry of the Interior, and when he came to the Ministry of Finance he instituted reforms in that area such as the arnona (municipal tax) fund and the National Infrastructure Law. Heisler was also involved in wage agreements with the Histadrut (General Federation of Labor in Israel) and the Teachers’ Union.

It is not clear whom Smotrich will pick to succeed Heisler. He has a record of procrastination in appointing people to senior positions in his ministry. The natural candidates are vice director general Israel Malachi, and deputy director general Yoray Matzlawi, but some in the ministry believe that Smotrich will look elsewhere.

Although Heisler was a Smotrich appointee, he was not perceived in the ministry as a political figure, and he tried to keep his distance from matters such as budgets for coalition parties. While Smotrich often clashed with senior officials such as Budgets Commissioner Yogev Gradus and the Ministry of Finance’s outgoing legal counsel Asi Messing, Heisler was considered a conciliatory figure who sought compromise. The criticism of him voiced within the ministry was that he was sometimes too much of a compromiser, and would not bang on the table to protect the professionals at the ministry from political interference.

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“Shlomi Heisler is a first rate professional who managed the Ministry of Finance in one of the most challenging periods that the State of Israel has ever known,” Smotrich said. “Heisler passed five budgets, and ran the ministry, with all its departments, skilfully. I thank Shlomi Heisler for his work and efforts for the sake of the State of Israel. He is an asset to the country and the public service, and I have no doubt that he will continue to harness his phenomenal capabilities for the benefit of the State of Israel.”

Published by Globes, Israel business news – en.globes.co.il – on December 25, 2024.

© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd., 2024.