Former parliamentary secretary Josef Bonnici is to be appointed Governor of the Central Bank of Malta as from 1 July, the government announced yesterday.
The appointment will follow the resignation of the incumbent, Michael C. Bonello, who wrote to the Prime Minister on 18 April to inform him of his wish to resign from his post as from the end of June.
The government said that in his resignation letter, while thanking the Prime Minister and the government for the trust placed in him, Mr Bonello recalled that when he accepted the Prime Minister’s offer of another term as governor in 2008, he had indicated his willingness to oversee the transition of the euro to its completion, but not necessarily to complete the full five-year term.
The Prime Minister has accepted Mr Bonello’s resignation and thanked him on behalf of the government for his valuable contribution.
Mr Bonello was first appointed governor in 1999, and since then he was actively involved in the transition to the euro, the accession of the Central Bank of Malta to the eurosystem, and the restructuring of the bank to meet these new responsibilities. Since 2008 Mr Bonello has been a member of the governing council of the European Central Bank.
Prof. Bonnici is currently a director of the Central Bank of Malta, professor of Economics and head of department at the University of Malta, focusing primarily on monetary economics, macroeconomics and econometrics. He has lectured at Deakin University in Australia, and Simon Fraser University in Canada and returned to Malta in 1988 as an adviser to the Prime Minister on economic affairs. Subsequently he became active in the political field and was appointed Parliamentary Secretary in Finance (1993-1995) and Minister for Economic Services in two legislatures (1995-1996, 1998-2003). His portfolio of responsibilities included that of economic development policy.
His last appointment was that of a member of the European Court of Auditors, with responsibility for the institution’s Statement of Assurance (DAS) and elected dean of the coordinating chamber of the Court.