Yilmaz declared best Central Bank head of 2009

Leading economic magazine Euromoney yesterday declared Durmus Yilmaz, the head of Turkey's Central Bank, the Best Central Bank Head of 2009. Yilmaz got his prize from Padraic Fallon, Euromoney's chairman and editor-in-chief, with a ceremony on the sidelines of this week's International Monetary Fund-World Bank annual meetings in Istanbul. Speaking to reporters after the ceremony, Yilmaz said, "When the total demand and investments in the country start to rise, thus creating more employment opportunities, this will be my real prize." In related news, the Central Bank got a "B" grade from another prominent economic magazine, Global Finance, which conducts annual performance surveys of central banks across the world. On this, Yilmaz said he hoped the rating upgrade would also help boost Turkey's credit agency ratings.