Panicos Demetriades, Professor of Financial Economics at the University of Leicester and former Governor of the Central Bank of Cyprus, was interviewed by Bloomberg following news that graft allegations had been made against Ilmars Rimsevics, Governor of the Central Bank of Latvia.
Read the full article, published in Bloomberg, here.
““Central-bank independence is a big illusion, especially in the European periphery,” Demetriades said in an interview on Tuesday when asked about graft allegations against Ilmars Rimsevics.
“There has never been such an open allegation against a central-bank governor, therefore it’s very risky for the ECB to come out openly until they hear from him and his lawyers,” said Demetriades, 59, who recently published a book about his own experience in the spotlight of the Cypriot authorities. “If he says to them ‘you need to come out and support me’ it’s a different story, but they might still be on the fence.””