Ivan Iskrov

Bulgaria should keep its currency board system until adopting the euro, and join the EU's Single Supervisory Mechanism (SSM) immediately after Bulgarian banks pass stress tests, a nominee for a new chief of the country's central bank said on Thursday.

The budget and finance committee with the Bulgarian Parliament is due to hold on Thursday hearings of candidates to take over as Governors of the country's central bank.

This comes a day before lawmakers are due to point a successor to Ivan Iskrov, who stepped down in June a few months before his term had expired.

Ivan Iskrov had been reelected on his position as a Chair of the Bulgarian National Bank under pressure during the first Boiko Borisov cabinet.

The statement was made by Former Finance Minister Simeon Djankov in an interview for bTV, who was in office at the time.

A hearing of the four nominees to take over as the Governor of the Bulgarian National Bank (BNB) is due next week, Parliament's Budget and Finance Committee has announced.

The development comes just hours after the incumbent Ivan Iskrov, whose term was to expire in October, stepped down.

The governor of the Bulgarian National Bank (BNB) Ivan Iskrov submitted his resignation letter on Tuesday, announcing that he will step down on July 10.

The letter, which is in line with the forthcoming end of Iskrov's mandate that expires on October 10, is addressed to the speaker and the members of the 43rd National Assembly.

Bulgarian National Bank (BNB) Governor Ivan Iskrov has voiced his commitment to resigning as early as this week, Finance Minister Vladislav Goranov has said.

Speaking to reporters, Goranov has explained that "whether it will be today [Monday] or tomorrow, this is of course a personal decision of the acting Governor of the BNB."

A new Governor of the Bulgarian National Bank (BNB) is to be elected out of the four registered candidates on July 10, an official has said.

Menda Stoyanova, who heads the Budget and Finance Committee in Parliament, told public broadcaster BNT on Friday there will be "no political bargaining" prior to the procedure.

The Patriotic Front (PF) has nominated Grigorii Vazov for the position of Bulgaria's central bank governor.

The term of office of the incumbent Bulgarian National Bank (BNB) chief Ivan Iskrov will expire in October.

Bulgarian Central Bank Governor Ivan Iskrov on Thursday denied allegations claiming he had agreed to step down on June 19 to open the way for the election of his successor.

"No one has been authorised to make any statements on behalf of the BNB governor.", the central bank said in a statement.

Bulgaria's central bank governor Ivan Iskrov has said he will resign on 19 June, BGNES reported on Thursday.

"Iskrov has said he will step down the moment we submit a nomination for Bulgarian National Bank (BNB) governor," the news outlet quoted the head of the parliament's budget and finance committee, Menda Stoyanova, as saying.