DEVELOPMENTS IN THE GOVERNANCE FRAMEWORK OF CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANKS IN TERMS OF MONETARY POLICY STRATEGIES

This paper aims to analyze the trends of the last decade and a half of independence, transparency and democratic accountability of central banks (CBs) in Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries on the road to the euro adoption and to compare the results with those corresponding to the European Central Bank (ECB). We approached the three pillars that altogether shape the governance framework of the CBs from the perspective of monetary policy strategies they use. The main findings indicate increased independence, transparency and accountability within the time horizon for all selected monetary authorities, regardless of the monetary policy strategy used; higher average levels of the three components of the governance framework for the CEE region targeting inflation compared to those using the exchange rate as nominal anchor; the existence of both a lack of transparency and a lack of accountability, including in the ECB case and in states that apply a strategy of inflation targeting (IT) (which appears somewhat surprising).