BNB governor lays out priorities before Parliament

If re-elected Governor of the Bulgarian National Bank (BNB), Dimitar Radev promised to ensure continuity of the achievements of his previous term. The governor said this during his hearing at a meeting of Parliament's Budget and Finance Committee on Friday. He clarified that the achievements translated into qualitative improvement in the governance and decision-making model of the central bank.

Dimitar Radev was nominated as BNB governor by the parliamentary group GERB-UDF on July 5. Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria announced that they would support him for a new term. Earlier on Friday, BSP announced that it was withdrawing its candidate for BNB governor Nikolay Kavardzhikliev. For their part, Vazrazhdane nominated Lyubomir Hristov.

Dimitar Radev added that he will continue his work on stabilising the banking sector and achieving results that are above the European Union (EU) average. He also promised to achieve a very high degree of integration of the banking sector into the euro area financial infrastructure. 

"I will do everything necessary to consolidate with my colleagues the role of the BNB as a strong and active member of the European Banking Union and to ensure a successful transition from the current restrictive monetary council regime to a full-fledged monetary regime within the framework of the shared monetary sovereignty of the euro area," Radev further said. He added that he will focus the BNB's activities on the implementation of all organisational, regulatory and technical requirements for the successful introduction of the euro in Bulgaria.

Dimitar Radev's position on the Banking Union is that thanks to Bulgaria, each member state now gets full rights and not, as before, mostly obligations. This process has taken two years and Bulgaria's accession is linked to all the rights of a full member of the Banking Union.

As a result of participation in the Banking Union, the BNB and the banking sector are very much effective members of the euro area, the current governor said. He added that the BNB participates actively and fully on an equal footing with the other euro area central banks in taking the most important decisions related to the supervision and restructuring of euro area banks, including Bulgarian banks. In his words, through the participation of the lev (BGN) in the European Monetary Mechanism, Bulgaria is the only country outside the euro area (excluding Denmark, which has a special status) that fulfils the criterion of currency stability, which is one of the most important for a country to join the euro area.

The main starting point of Dimitar Radev's concept is built on the fundamental understanding that Bulgaria must finalise a successful transition to join the euro area. In his capacity as BNB Governor and candidate for a new term, the goal he is aiming for is to make this happen as soon as possible and no later than January 1, 2025. He also said that he is motivated to continue as BNB Governor in order to complete what the financial institution has achieved so far.