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Gyorgy Suranyi is soft-spoken and modest, so it comes as something of a surprise that he is uncompromising when it comes to running the Central Bank of Hungary. Since becoming central bank governor he has drafted a law for greater central bank independence, introduced a radical economic stabilization programme and continued to lower inflation. Now in his third term he is focusing on bringing Hungary ever closer to Emu convergence.
At 44, Suranyi is in his fifth year as governor since 1990 (from 1992 to 1995 he worked in the private sector as managing director at Central European National Bank). His change of attitude is reflected in the evolution of the central bank. After the central bank gained independence from government control in 1991 restructuring needed to be severe. "The process was really painful. I wouldn't have been able to manage it in my first tenure. My attitude was substantially tougher than the first period," says Suranyi. Technology has now been massively upgraded and the staff level has fallen by 40% in the past three years.