ČNB governor Zdeněk Tůma nominated for EBRD president

The governor of the Czech National Bank Zdeněk Tůma was nominated by the government for the post of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. EU finance ministers will discuss the nomination in March, Prime Minister Mirek Topolánek said. The second consecutive four-year term of the current president Jean Lemierre will expire in July. The Czech Republic is the first of the post-communist states to have stopped drawing money from the EBRD last October. It has remained in the bank as a shareholder and co-finances projects in third markets.