MOSCOW, January 5. /TASS/. UK-based finance magazine The Banker named Elvira Nabiullina, who is the head of the Central Bank of Russia, as the European central banker of the year in 2016.

The Banker cited as one of the most important reasons to rank Nabilullina as the top 2016 European Central Banker her achievements in controlling Russia’s inflation rate.

"The efforts of the Central Bank head has led to the fact that the rate of inflation by the end of 2016 fell below 6% from 12.9% in 2015," according to the British magazine.

Born in 1963, Nabiullina served as the Russian economic development and trade minister between September 2007 and May 2012 before assuming the post of the governor of the Central Bank of Russia in June of 2013.

She also served as aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin on economic issues between May 2012 and June 2013.