Romanian central bank governor Mugur Isarescu close to get another five year mandate

Romania’s National Bank (BNR) governor Mugur Isarescu has the political support to get another mandate, as the Parliament will vote the new board of the BNR later in June, according to Romanian prime minister Victor Ponta quoted by Mediafax newswire. The election of the new BNR board will take place three months in advance, as the mandates of the current members will expire in September 2014. The mandate is for five years. Mugur Isarescu, 64, has been serving as governor of the BNR since December 1990, except for a one year period in 2000, when he was prime minister of Romania. In November 2000, Isarescu ran for president, but he came in just fourth, with 9 percent of the votes. After this short intermezzo he resumed his reign at the helm of Romania’s National Bank. In 2009, World Records Academy named him as the longest serving governor of a central bank. He managed to keep the Romanian banking system afloat in the midst of the 2008 financial crisis and kept the exchange rate for the Romanian leu (RON) stable in spite of depreciation pressure. In recent years, the inflation rate, which is one of the BNR’s main concerns, reached all-time lows. In March 2014 the annual inflation rate in Romania was just 1.04 percent, well below BNR’s multi annual target. However, some economists pointed out that the overly prudent approach of the BNR, which didn’t rush to reduce interest rates after the height of the financial crisis passed, dragged on Romania’s economic recovery. It was only last year that Romania’s GDP grew by 3.5 percent showing the first real signs of recovery, after some four years of stagnation. The board of the BNR has nine members. The other members of the board are Florin Georgescu, who is first deputy governor, Bogdan Olteanu and Cristi Popa, who act as deputy governors, and Marian Dinu, Nicolae Danila, Virgil Stoenescu, Agnes Nagy and Napoleon Pop, members. Find more on the BNR board of directors here. Andrei Chirileasa, andrei@romania-insider.com