Bolaños will return to head Costa Rican central bank

Rodrigo Bolaños will take over as the president of the Central Bank of Costa Rica in June, Laura Chinchilla, the country's new president-elect, said on Thursday.

The central bank's current chief, Francisco de Paula Gutiérrez Gutiérrez said on Monday that he was leaving the position halfway through his second term, Diana Vialis, the secretary of his office, told CentralBanking.com. "He said only that he was stepping down for personal reasons," she said.

Appointing Bolaños, Chinchilla said also that the central bank would maintain the currency band that was adopted in October 2006. Under this system, the colón is free to float within a currency band that references the dollar.

Bolaños is not new to the Costa Rican central bank, having steered it from 1995 to 1998 under a previous administration. He is at present a partner in Patrimonios y Estrategias, a San José based consultancy, and served two stints in the late 1970s and early 1980s as the Central American country's deputy finance minister. He holds a masters and a doctorate in economics from the University of Chicago.

Gutiérrez will leave office on 15 June, and Bolaños will start work the following day, the central bank said.