Bulgaria Central Bank Governor Swears in for Second Term

Ivan Iskrov has been Bulgaria's central bank governor since 2003. Photo by BGNES

Bulgaria's central bank governor Ivan Iskrov, known for his conservative policy which has helped Sofia keep its currency board regime, will swear in on Friday to serve a second six-year term.

Kalin Hristov will come into office as Deputy Governor of the central bank. He will take over the Emission Department from outgoing deputy governor Tsvetan Manchev.

Ivan Iskrov was nominated by GERB party, which won a July election, and re-elected at the end of August, a week after he resigned to seek the backing of the the new centre-right government.

It was not immediately clear what brought about the U-turn in GERB initial decision to replace Iskrov, who was reelected previously in a highly controversial parliamentary vote just before the general elections.

The previous Socialist-led parliament appointed Iskrov in May ahead of the July general elections but the central bank law states it should have waited until he had three months left in office.

The first reelection of Ivan Iskrov, member of the centrist party of Simeon Saxe-Coburg was believed to be a trump card for pressing the formation into making concessions in the sharing out of key posts in the state among members of the ruling coalition.

This scenario failed after the former ruling Socialist-led coalition suffered a crushing defeat in the general elections on July 5, while the centrist party of Saxe-Coburg even did not manage to make it to the next parliament.

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