No decision reached on new BoA governor

President rejected idea of foreign central bank governor, as prime minister proposed Argentine banker, according to media reports.
TIRANA, Oct. 7 – The Bank of Albania is still operating under the supervision of an acting governor, after the previous head of the central bank was sacked by parliament for not doing enough to prevent the theft of $7 million from the bank.
The country’s leaders are sifting through a long list of Albanian and international bankers to fill the empty seat left after the former governor, Adrian Fullani, was arrested for dereliction of duty and later sacked.
Local media reported that Prime Minister Edi Rama had proposed an Argentinean former central bank, Mario Blejer, governor for the post, but the idea had been rejected by the country’s president, Bujan Nishani, who insists on finding an Albanian banker for the post and who holds the ultimate power to make the formal nomination to parliament.
Rama has insisted that the new governor would best be a foreigner, but that move would require legislative change, and under Albanian law only Albanian citizens can serve in the post.
There was no official statement on the issue. Rama said in an interview that he has been discussing the idea of the new governor a post which should be filled very soon. But he declined to say whether there had been a debate with the president over a foreign nomination.