Position: Lithuanian central bank governor
Incumbent: Reinoldijus Sarkinas
Date of birth: July 16, 1946
Term: A veteran central banker, Sarkinas took office on Feb. 15, 1996. His third five-year term expired in February 2011, but parliament agreed to extend it to April 15 to give the president more time to find a replacement.
Key facts:
-- Sarkinas was at the helm of the central bank during Lithuania's attempt to adopt the euro in 2007, which failed due to inflation being too high. As the national currency, the litas, is pegged to the euro under a currency board regime, the central bank has few monetary policy instruments.
-- Sarkinas has strongly defended the currency board regime and the euro peg. He now says it is realistic for Lithuania to adopt the euro in 2014.
-- He also brushed off criticism that the central bank should have done more to prevent commercial banks from reckless lending and the build-up of a property bubble.
-- Sarkinas said borrowers were also responsible.
-- Contrary to his counterpart in neighbouring Latvia, Sarkinas has been careful not to criticise government policies.