Central Banker of the Year: Gustavo Franco's bold use of power
Highly commended: Gyorgy Suranyi, Central banker, Hungary
Central bank governors Europe-wide have spent the past year preparing their countries' economies for monetary convergence. Luis Angel Rojo, governor of the Bank of Spain, has been particularly successful in this.
Despite a serious recession in 1992 and slow economic growth in 1996, Spain has since had a healthy growth rate that climbed to 3.7% of GDP this year. Inflation fell to less than 2%. In July, Spain fulfilled all the requirements for monetary union and the economy barely felt the pain.
Bruce Cazman, chief economist at JP Morgan in London, reckons it's instructive to compare Spain's path to convergence with Italy's. "Spain has done a very good job of keeping inflation low and the fiscal policy tight, which hasn't hurt the Spanish economy too much," he says. "[In Italy] Fazio kept the interest rates too high, and the Italian economy is one of the worst in Europe now. It is arguable that he could have eased them and still made it into monetary union. The Portuguese have followed the Spaniards for their lesson."