Mauritius Names Googoolye as 3rd Central Bank Head Since '14
Mauritius Names Googoolye as Third Central Bank Head Since 2014
(Bloomberg) -- Mauritius has its third central bank governor in as many years.
President Ameenah Gurib-Fakim appointed Yandraduth Googoolye as head of the Bank of Mauritius, her office said in a faxed statement on Tuesday. He will replace Rameswurlall Basant Roi, whose three-year term ends this month. Googoolye will assume duties as governor-designate on Wednesday before his three-year contract starts Jan. 15.
Googoolye has been first deputy governor of the central bank from July 2006 and has acted as head of the regulator for some months in 2007 and 2010. He first joined in 1985.
An accountant and former head of banking supervision, Googoolye takes charge of the central bank as inflation is slowing and risks to the global growth outlook present a threat to the Indian Ocean island economy’s prospects. This may leave the door open for more monetary-policy easing after the Bank of Mauritius reduced its benchmark interest rate in September for the first time in more than a year. The regulator left the rate unchanged at 3.5 percent last month. That’s the lowest since the Monetary Policy Committee was established in 2007.
Googoolye “will ensure stability at the central bank,” Swadicq Nuthay, an economist and chief executive officer at ABC Capital, said by phone from the capital, Port Louis. “The challenges lying ahead are immense, especially with regard to monetary policy. His nomination is no surprise to the market.”
Gurib-Fakim appointed Renganaden Padayachy as the new first deputy governor. A former manager of economic analysis and industry division at the Mauritius Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Padayachy was appointed to the board of the central bank in March 2015. Mahendra Vikramdass Punchoo was reappointed as second deputy governor, a position he’s been in since December 2014.
The rupee gained 0.1 percent to 33.9748 per dollar on Tuesday in Port Louis.
To contact the reporter on this story: Kamlesh Bhuckory in Port Louis at kbhuckory1@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Paul Richardson at pmrichardson@bloomberg.net, Rene Vollgraaff, Ana Monteiro
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