Bulgaria's Patriotic Front Nominates Grigorii Vazov to Head Central Bank

The Patriotic Front (PF) has nominated Grigorii Vazov for the position of Bulgaria's central bank governor.

The term of office of the incumbent Bulgarian National Bank (BNB) chief Ivan Iskrov will expire in October.

Vazov, president of Sofia-based private Higher School of Insurance and Finance (VUZF), is a Doctor of Finance and a former economy and trade minister in three Bulgarian governments in the 1990s.

Describing Vazov as "a man with unquestionable authority and expertise," PF co-chairman Valeri Simeonov said at a briefing in parliament on Wednesday that the nomination aimed to increase completion for the top post at the BNB.

The PF is not part of the minority coalition government of GERB and the Reformist Bloc led by Prime Minister Boyko Borisov but it is one of the parties that support the cabinet in parliament.

Vazov is the third nomination for the post known to be backed by a political party after Dimitar Radev and Biser Manolov.

The head of the budget and finance committee in parliament Menda Stoyanova has named Radev as GERB's candidate.

Bulgaria of Citizens Movement, part of the Reformist Bloc, announced on Tuesday it would propose to the other parties within the bloc to nominate Biser Manolov as their choice. Manolov served two successive terms as head of the Deposit Insurance Fund (DIF) from 2003 to 2011. Now, he is a DIF board member.

Kamen Zahariev, Director, Corporate Recovery at the EBRD, has announced he plans to run as an independent candidate.

Parliament decided earlier on Wednesday that only political parties represented in parliament or independent MPs could submit nominations for BNB governor to the National Assembly, Bulgaria on Air TV channel reported.

The new central bank chief...