Bulgaria MPs to Vote on Appointment of C-Bank Deputy Governors

The Bulgarian National Bank (BNB)'s headquarters in downtown Sofia. Photo by BGNES

Parliament is to vote Wednesday on the appointment of the three Deputy Governors at the country's central bank, the Bulgarian National Bank (BNB).

The BNB's new head Dimitar Radev, who was elected in mid-July and took over from Ivan Iskrov (who stepped down a month earlier), proposed two reshuffles within the current governance of BNB, largely retaining the composition of the team of his predecessor.

One of the proposed reshuffles foresees for the incumbent Deputy Governor in charge of the Banking Department Dimitar Kostov to become Deputy Governor heading the Banking Supervision Department.

The Banking Department will be entrusted to the incumbent chief jurist of BNB Nina Stoyanova.

The Deputy Governor in charge of the Issue Department Kalin Hristov is to retain his position.

The nominations raised some contradictions because the new governor seems to be wanting to preserve the majority of the governance, which was in office during the collapse of Corporate Commercial Bank (KTB).

Kostov's nomination is much disputed among some political forces, with part of MPs reminding that Dimitar Kostov was Finance Minister in the government of Zhan Videnov (1995-1997) which triggered an economic and financial crisis.

The Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP), the largest opposition force, on the other hand believes Kalin Hristov should not be part of the Deputy Governors' team, claiming it was he who put forward the idea of a "bank holiday" briefly after KTB was placed under special supervision.

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