Tolkunbek Abdygulov was appointed acting chairman of the National Bank of the Kyrgyz Republic on Thursday by Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambayev.

Abdygulov was born in the village of Bokonbayevo in the Tonskiy district of the Issyk-Kul region in 1976. He received a degree in international economic relations from the International University of Kyrgyzstan in 1997 and continued his education at the same school, receiving his master's degree in banking in 1999.

He later received two more master's degrees: one in development economics from Japan's Nagoya University in 2005 and one in public administration from Texas Southern University in 2007.

In 1997, Abdygulov began his professional career as an economist of the directorate on investments and technical assistance coordination at the National Bank of the Kyrgyz Republic, where he remained until the 2000, when he moved up to senior economist in the same area at the same bank.

He continued with the bank for several years before also taking on work for the World Bank, the office of the president of the Kyrgyz Republic and other Kyrgyz government offices.