Budapest, 25 January 2021 – In view of the current pandemic situation, the Magyar Nemzeti Bank’s international conference, the Lamfalussy Lectures, was held online for the first time since its inception. The Awards, established by the Magyar Nemzeti Bank (MNB), were presented during the event involving prominent lecturers. The aim of the Lamfalussy Award is to recognise exceptional international achievements influencing international monetary policy; the Popovics Award is an honour granted every year by the MNB to young experts in recognition of outstanding professional work in economics and finance.
In his opening speech delivered at this year’s Conference, Barnabás Virág, Deputy Governor of the Magyar Nemzeti Bank, defined three major factors which might continue to influence future central banking activities in the aftermath of the crisis caused by Covid-19. These are (i) cooperation between monetary and fiscal policies, (ii) the importance of expanding the central bank balance sheet, and (iii) future central bank presence in government securities markets.
Based on a recommendation by the MNB’s technical committee, this year the Award named after the ‘Father of the Euro’ was received by Boris Vujčić, Governor of the Croatian National Bank (CNB), for his key role played in Croatia’s accession to the European Union. Boris Vujčić was appointed Chief Economist of the CNB in 1997, and then Deputy Governor in 2000 before being appointed Governor of the CNB in 2012. The Croatian monetary policy system was reformed and the kuna exchange rate stabilised under his direction. These helped bring the country close to adopting the euro.
In his speech, Governor Vujčić drew an interesting parallel between the famous novel ‘The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy’ and central banks’ monetary policy activity. As the number 42 is the answer to the ultimate question of everything in the novel, today it is central banks’ task to solve the problem of the absence of inflation, to maintain economic growth, and to deal with a crisis situation arising from economic, epidemic and environmental damage. Looking back to interest rate developments over the past years, few would have thought that the negative interest rate environment would be only a temporary phenomenon in economies. ‘Today, extremely low interest rates appear to be a permanent feature of our economies. No one would have just thought that a few years ago’, he said.
This year’s Popovics Award was received by Gergely Fábián, Executive Director of the MNB responsible for financial system analysis and statistics. Mr Fábián graduated in economics from the University of Maastricht. He joined the Magyar Nemzeti Bank as Analyst in 2009. From 2012, he led the team of analysts, and then, from 2015, he served as Director of the Bank’s financial system analysis area. From 2017, he has been Executive Director responsible for financial system analysis and credit incentives and CEO of the Budapest Institute of Banking. He has served in his current position since 2020.
After receiving this year’s Popovics Award, Mr Fábián thanked the Committee for its decision. In his speech, he also thanked György Matolcsy, Governor of the MNB, who ‘has thrown him into deep water’ several times, thereby helping him get the most out of himself. He thanked his colleague for their help and for working together over the pasts 12 year. He underlined that ‘working for the MNB is much more than a job, its a strong dedication to value preservation and value creation’.
Following the award ceremonies, Yi Gang, Governor of the People’s Bank of China, held a keynote speech. Philip R. Lane, Member of the ECB’s Executive Board and former Governor of the Central Bank of Ireland, Jacques de Larosiere, former Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund and former President of the Banque de France, Yang Yao, Professor of Beijing University, and William B. English, Professor of Yale University, participated in the special section of the Conference. The prominent speakers agreed that to address the economic damage caused by Covid central banks had to use non-standard instruments such as unlimited quantitative easing or printing money. Experience shows that the use of a wider range of instruments does not only result in the renewal of monetary policy but also of fiscal policy.
MNB Communications