india

Updated: Nov 07, 2019 18:07 IST

Former Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan declined to say if he’s been asked by the U.K. about succeeding Mark Carney to head the Bank of England, and repeated his view that the job is now burdened with huge political challenges.

“You’re navigating in a very complicated environment with a whole lot of political forces,” Rajan, who now teaches at Chicago Booth School of Business, said in a Bloomberg TV interview with Haslinda Amin on Thursday. He said in July that the issues posed by Brexit were a key reason he didn’t apply for the role.

Asked if anything has changed since then, and whether he’s been approached about the job, Rajan declined to comment.

“I don’t want to talk about that, but I would say it’s a very difficult job,” he said. “Mark has a very difficult job, he’s done it in a very admirable way and it’s good that he’s there.”

Carney, who himself denied an interest in the BOE governorship before he was appointed, has twice extended his stay and is now due to step down at the end of January, though the upcoming U.K. general election has delayed the appointment of his successor. Originally slated for the fall, it’s now not expected until after the Dec. 12 vote. An interview panel has prepared a shortlist, but that could be discarded.