Putin Proposes Five-Year Extension Of Central Bank Chairwoman's Term

Russian central bank Governor Elvira Nabiullina (file photo)

Russian President Vladimir Putin has submitted a proposal to the State Duma to nominate Elvira Nabiullina to serve another term as the head of the central bank of Russia.

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A document on the lower house of parliament's website on March 18 said the it will consider the proposal on March 21.

Her current five-year term ends in June, and federal law says Putin must nominate her or another candidate by March 24.

The Kremlin said Putin's high respect for the central bank's work resulted in the proposal.

Nabiullina, 58, an economist, has headed the central bank since June 2013. In 2017, her mandate was extended for another five years. Prior to taking the post Nabiullina was an adviser to Putin for a year and previously headed the Ministry of Economic Development.

Nabiullina, who must oversee the economy amid unprecedented Western sanctions against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine, was due to read out a monetary policy statement after the central bank opted to keep its key interest rate unchanged at 20 percent last month.

The bank implemented the emergency rate hike on February 28 as the ruble crashed amid the sanctions.

The ruble was trading in Moscow early on March 18 at about 103.51 to the dollar and 113.23 to the euro.

With reporting by Reuters