THE BRITISH monthly magazine The Banker has named the governor of Slovakia's central bank, Ivan Šramko, as its European Central Banker of the Year for 2006.
Central bank spokesman Igor Barát said that Šramko had received the award for his "cautious approach to the fulfillment of the requirements for the introduction of the euro and for strengthening bank supervision, which gained praise from the International Monetary Fund".
The magazine also praised the early entry of the Slovak currency into the ERM II exchange rate mechanism ahead of scheduled euro adoption in 2009. It said this was a prudent move towards maintaining the stability of the Slovak currency.
Šramko worked in several commercial banks before entering the Slovak central bank. From January 11, 2002 until the end of 2004 he was the NBS vice-governor, and took up the post of governor as of January 1, 2005.
