Romania’s former finance minister Anca Dragu nominated for governor of Moldova’s central bank

Anca Dragu, former minister of finance and former president of the Romanian Senate, was recently nominated for the position of governor of the national bank of the Republic of Moldova.

The nomination was made by the head of the Moldovan Parliament, Igor Grosu.

The position of governor of the bank became vacant after the Moldovan legislature dismissed Octavian Armașu. The dismissal took place the same day as a series of hearings in the plenary of the Parliament regarding the recovery of funds stolen in the billion-dollar banking fraud of 2014-2015.

Deputies from Moldova’s ruling party criticized the former head of the country’s national bank for failing to recover stolen financial assets. Specifically, the parliamentarians expressed dissatisfaction with the fact that Armașu did not suspend bank employees who were accused in the banking fraud case.

"Today, in the plenary of the Parliament, I will propose Anca Dragu for the position of Governor of the National Bank of Moldova. [...] I have full confidence that Anca Dragu will build an independent and integral National Bank of Moldova," announced Igor Grosu, cited by News.ro.

According to the head of the Moldovan Legislature, Anca Dragu has "important" experience in the financial banking sector, public policies, and EU accession. She worked for more than 15 years within the National Bank of Romania and the International Monetary Fund and was minister of public finance in the Government of Romania. In 2020 she was elected president of the Senate of Romania but was removed after the alliance with PNL and UDMR ended.

(Photo source: Gov.ro)