Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett attends the weekly cabinet meeting at the prime minister’s office in Jerusalem, August 1, 2021. Abir Sultan/Pool via REUTERS

Israel’s cabinet on Sunday approved Yoav Gardos as the country’s budget director after he had been serving as interim budget czar for the past year, the finance ministry said.

Gardos, 38, who has held several posts in the budget department over 11 years, had become acting budget director in September 2020 after Shaul Meridor resigned as budget chief last August along with two other senior finance ministry officials in the span of three months.

Avigdor Lieberman, who became finance minister in June after a fourth election in two years, appointed Gardos to the budget director’s post on a permanent basis.

Gardos was a key player in formulating the 2021-2022 state budget that has already received cabinet approval but still requires acceptance in parliament. Due to the political stalemate, Israel is using a pro-rated budget that was last approved in early 2018.