Fidesz MP names rate-setter pick

Budapest, September 9 (MTI) – Ruling Fidesz lawmakers unanimously back Kolos Kardkovács, an economy ministry and central bank lawyer, to join the bank’s rate-setting body as an external member, the daily Magyar Idők said on its website.

Erik Bánk, the Fidesz MP who heads parliament’s economy committee, told the paper that the committee will hear Kardkovács on Monday. The majority of MPs will then vote for his appointment to the Monetary Council and he will take his oath of office on the same day, he added.

Kardkovács is set to replace Andrea Bártfai-Mager, who resigned from the body in the summer to replace the government’s retiring commissioner for postal affairs and national financial services.

Since her resignation, one internal member of the eight-member body has been absent from policy meetings to abide by rules that require more external members than internal ones. At present, without a replacement for Bártfai-Mager, there are four external and four internal members. The number of Council members are limited to nine by law.

Source: MTI