National Bank of Hungary (NBH) Governor Andras Simor is one of the best central bankers in the world, Global Finance magazine of New York said in its issue “The World’s top central bankers 2009″.
On the table of just ten European central-bank chiefs that made this year’s list, the NBH governor is a close third with his “B” grade after Zdenek Tuma of the Czech central bank and Jean-Claude Trichet of the European Central Bank, both of whom scored “A” on the European list.
Mr Simor is on a par with the Swiss National Bank’s Jean-Pierre Roth, the National Bank of Poland’s Slawomir Skrzypek or the Bank of England’s Mervyn King, who also received “B” ratings this year, though the NBH governor ranked ahead of his European peers in terms of persistent good performance over two years.
The chiefs of both the Norwegian and Swedish central banks scored a “C minus”. Ben Bernanke of the Federal Reserve also scored “C” on Global Finance’s annual list this year, slightly improving on his “C minus” last year. Masaaki Shirakawa of the Bank of Japan also scored “C”.
Global Finance commented that despite the general gloom, the Hungarian central bank is clearly generating renewed confidence in Hungary’s prospects among global investors, who recently snapped up a EUR 1bn government-bond issue. The Hungarian central bank’s swift action to prevent a banking crisis last fall and its acceptance of assistance from the IMF have also likely contributed to Hungary’s rapid rehabilitation, Global Finance said.