Acting Governor and Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Iceland appointed

As provided for in Temporary Provision II of the Act Amending the Act on the Central Bank of Iceland, the Prime Minister today appointed Svein Harald Øygard provisionally to the position of Governor of the Central Bank and Arnór Sighvatsson provisionally as Deputy Governor. They have already commenced their duties.
Following up on the amendments to the Act on the Central Bank of Iceland passed by the Icelandic parliament Althingi yesterday which came into effect today, the Prime Minister has appointed Svein Harald Øygard as acting Governor of the Central Bank and Arnór Sighvatsson as acting Deputy Governor. Both have already commenced their duties. The acting Governor and acting Deputy Governor of the Central Bank are to fulfil these positions until appointments have been made to the positions of Governor and Deputy Governor of the Central Bank pursuant to an advertisement as provided for in the Act.

Born in 1960, Svein Harald Øygard, graduated from the University of Oslo with a master’s degree in economics in 1985, focusing on macroeconomics especially.

As Permanent Undersecretary in the Norwegian Ministry of Finance 1990-94, Svein Harald was responsible for macroeconomic policy, co-ordinating the government’s financial strategy and monetary policy, financial markets legislation and taxation issues. He directed a reform of Norwegian tax laws in 1992 and was a member of the Norwegian government’s working group examining the economic implications of Norway’s possible EU accession. Svein Harald Øygard was involved in efforts by Norwegian authorities to resolve the banking and currency crisis experienced by the country in 1992. He was a member of the Economic Council of the Norwegian Labour Party until 2000.

During the period from 1983 to 1990, Svein Harald worked for the Norwegian central bank Norges bank and the Norwegian parliament Stortinget. In the Ministry of Finance he was responsible for inflation analyses, price and wage modelling and other economic indicators.

Since 1995, he has worked for consultants McKinsey & Co. in many areas of Europe, the US, South America, Asia, the Middle East and Africa, and served as Managing Director of McKinsey & Co. in Norway 2005-07. His work for McKinsey has involved in particular projects and strategy in energy, industry, public administration and finance.

Arnór Sighvatsson, acting Deputy Governor, has been Chief Economist at the Central Bank of Iceland since 2004. Prior to that he had been Deputy Chief Economist at the Central Bank of Iceland since 1995 and Head of the Bank’s Economics department. He has worked for the bank since 1990. For two years, Arnór Sighvatsson served as Managing Director’s assistant at the International Monetary Fund in Washington. After a period as university lecturer in the US, he worked for Statistics Iceland.

Arnór graduated with a PhD in economics from Northern Illinois University in the US, and holds a master’s degree in economics as well.

He has published numerous articles in scholarly journals on economics and monetary policy, independently or in collaboration with other scholars. The prime focus of these articles has been international macroeconomics, international trade, currency and monetary issues. Arnór has served on various committees and in an administrative capacity for the Central Bank of Iceland.