Isarescu wants euro at 4 ROL

National Bank Governor Mugur Isarescu wants to retain his position by the time four zeroes are struck off the ROL's tail. "I want one euro to be worth 4 ROL instead of 40,000 ROL, which is important from a symbolic point of view," Isarescu said in a recent interview for Emerging Markets magazine. Denomination preparations are behind schedule, though, and one of the problems that has made technical talks take longer is the duration of the period wherein the new monetary divisions should circulate along with old ones. The law draft on removing zeroes could be debated during the Government meeting this week, and then forwarded for debate to the Parliament. Another goal Isarescu says he will see completed before leaving his position is the enactment by the Parliament of the law draft regarding the Statute of the National Bank of Romania, which will institutionalise stability of prices as a fundamental goal of the central bank. His term ends in mid December, right around elections time when there will be no one available to appoint the management of the central bank. Under the circumstances, the Parliament might decide in good time to extend the term of NBR's Board. ZF