Governor P. Nicholl Met the Member of the BH Presidency D. Covic

The Governor of the Central Bank of Bosnia and Herzegovina (CBBH) Peter Nicholl and the member of the BiH Presidency, H.E. Dragan Čović met today, on May 5, 2004 at the CBBH Head Office in Sarajevo.

Mr. Čović congratulated the CBBH on its effective and efficient operations over a number of years. Mr. Nicholl thanked Mr. Čovic and his colleagues and predecessors for the strong support that the CBBH has always received from the Presidency.

They discussed a number of issues including the request from the State Parliament for the CBBH to consider ways of paying a dividend to the State and the urgent need to make senior appointments to the State Statistics Agency as an important step in improving the range and quality of statistics in BiH.

They also discussed the process for bringing banking supervision under the CBBH later this year. Mr. Nicholl stressed the importance of having adequate immunity provisions for central bank staff who will be involved in banking supervision.

Governor Nicholl explained the process that will be used to replace Vice Governor Dragan Kovačević, who will leave the CBBH on May 31, 2004, and Comptroller-General Jasmina Halilbegović, who will shift to other duties in the CBBH when her term as Comptroller-General finishes on June 30, 2004.

These appointments are made by the Governor of the CBBH with the approval of the CBBH Governing Board. Mr. Nicholl expects that decisions on these appointments will be decided and announced at the meeting of the Governing Board of the CBBH scheduled for May 26, 2004.