Ireland's Top Spending Official Said to Weigh Central Bank Run
Ireland's Top Spending Official Said to Weigh Central Bank Run
(Bloomberg) -- Ireland’s top official in the ministry for public expenditure and reform, Robert Watt, is considering a new attempt at becoming the nation’s central bank governor, according to two people familiar with the matter.
Watt was one of the two final candidates considered to lead the nation’s central bank in 2015, before being edged out by Philip Lane, then an economics professor at Trinity College Dublin. With Lane set to move to the European Central Bank, Watt now may put himself forward for the position once more, said the people who asked not to be named as the information is private.
A Finance Ministry spokesman declined to comment on potential candidates. The ministry said it will undertake a “comprehensive process” to find a new governor.
As Lane prepares to move, Ireland must decide whether to appoint another outsider to the governor’s job or return to the pre-financial crisis tradition of appointing from within the civil service. The position also carries a seat on the ECB Governing Council. The government aims to choose the next governor before Lane formally takes up his ECB role in June. If it does not meet that deadline, it can appoint an interim governor for as long as three months.
Sharon Donnery may be set to succeed Lane as governor at the Irish central bank, at least according to betting markets. Donnery, currently deputy governor for central banking, is even money to get the job according to PaddyPowerBetfair Plc.’s Paddy Power unit.
To contact the reporters on this story: Dara Doyle in Dublin at ddoyle1@bloomberg.net;Peter Flanagan in Dublin at pflanagan23@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Vidya Root at vroot@bloomberg.net, Kevin Costelloe
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