The central bank's Supervisory Board nominates Ardo Hansson as candidate for the position of Governor of Eesti Pank

Postitatud:

11.10.2011

On Tuesday, the Supervisory Board of Eesti Pank nominated Ardo Hansson as the candidate for the position of Governor of Eesti Pank. In the course of a secret voting, 5 of the eight board members voted in favour of Hansson, whereas the second candidate, Andres Sutt, received 3 votes.

Before voting, the Supervisory Board listened to the candidates' speeches and asked them additional questions.

"The Supervisory Board has managed well with the difficult task. I would like to thank all the candidates, especially Andres Sutt. The candidates were very strong, which did not make the decision-making easy, but this also meant we could be confident that our decision could only be a good one," said Jaan Männik, Head of the Supervisory Board.

The candidate approved by the Supervisory Board must pass a 3-month security clearance performed by the Security Police. Thereafter, the Supervisory Board will analyse the data gathered, after which they will make a proposal to the President of the Republic to authorise the candidate to the office of Governor of Eesti Pank.

Governor Andres Lipstok's term of office lasts until 7 June 2012. According to law, the term of office of the central bank’s governor is seven years and it is not extendable.

Ardo Hansson is currently Chief of the World Bank's Economics Unit in China. Employed by the World Bank since 1998, Hansson has also worked with Eastern European and Balkan countries. In 1993-1998 Hansson belonged to the Supervisory Board of Eesti Pank, in 1992-1995 and in 1997 he was economic adviser to the Prime Minister, and in 1991-1992 adviser to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He was also member of the Monetary Reform Committee. He has worked for several renown universities and published numerous articles on economic policy. Hansson holds a PhD in Economics from Harvard University.

Initially, a total of four candidates were set up for the position of Governor of Eesti Pank by members of the Supervisory Board: Ardo Hansson, Jürgen Ligi, Andres Sutt and Andres Tupits. Hansson and Sutt made it to the final round of voting.

Background Information
The procedure of assigning Governor of Eesti Pank to the post is as follows:
1) The Supervisory Board decides to whom they are going to make the proposal to run for office;
2) The candidate has three moths to pass security clearance performed by the Security Police;
3) The Supervisory Board analyses the information gathered during the clearance and makes a proposal to the President of the Republic to authorise the candidate to the office of Governor of Eesti Pank; The candidate must have the votes of at least five Supervisory Board members.
4) The President of the Republic authorises the Governor of Eesti Pank to office.

Further information:
Viljar Rääsk
Public Relations Office
+372 668 0745, +372 527 5055
E-mail: [email protected]