Mugur Isarescu was unanimously validated by the budget and finance commissions in the Romanian Parliament for a new five year mandate as Governor of Romania’s National Bank (BNR). He has been running the BNR since 1990 and currently holds the record for the longest serving central bank governor in the world.

Isarescu, 64, was also prime minister of Romania for one year, between December 1999 and December 2000, one of the most difficult periods for Romania’s economy. In November 2000 he ran for president, but lost.

Isarescu’s main objectives in the new five year mandate will be to prepare Romania’s entry in the Eurozone in 2019, which he considers “an ambitious but still achievable objective”, and also Romania’s entry in the Banking Union, he said in the commission hearings at the Parliament on Monday, June 16, according to Mediafax.

Romania’s entry in the Eurozone and the European Banking Union would reduce the competences of the central bank, which means that Isarescu’s successor as BNR Governor will not have the same power which he holds right now. BNR’s current responsibilities include maintaining the price stability but also the exchange rate stability for the Romanian leu (RON), but also supervising local banking system, which holds total assets of some EUR 80 billion.

editor@romania-insider.com