President appoints National Bank of Hungary deputy governor

President János Áder on Wednesday appointed Mihály Patai as deputy governor of the National Bank of Hungary (NBH).

Bertalan Havasi, deputy secretary of state at the Prime Minister’s Office, said last month that Prime Minister Viktor Orbán would recommend Patai to replace National Bank of Hungary deputy governor Ferenc Gerhardt. Gerhardt’s six-year term ends on April 21.

Parliament’s economic committee approved the prime minister’s nomination of Patai at the end of March.

At his hearing before the committee, Patai said the central bank’s 0.9 percent base rate could be maintained in the coming period. Hungary’s economic growth is sustainable in the coming 2-3 years, in spite of a slowdown in the European Union and the global economy, he added.

Patai is the chairman of the Hungarian Banking Association and was chairman and chief executive of UniCredit Bank Hungary, one of Hungary’s biggest commercial lenders.

As we wrote on March, President Áder has re-appointed György Matolcsy as governor of the National Bank of Hungary for another term, read more details HERE.

Source: MTI