Mateusz Szczurek
Minister of Finance
In office
27 November 2013 – 16 November 2015
Prime MinisterDonald Tusk
Ewa Kopacz
Preceded byJacek Rostowski
Succeeded byPaweł Szałamacha
Personal details
Born (1975-08-11) 11 August 1975
Warsaw, Poland
Political partyCivic Platform
Alma materUniversity of Warsaw
Columbia University
University of Sussex

Mateusz Szczurek (born 11 August 1975 in Warsaw, Poland) is a Polish economist and politician. He was the Polish Minister of Finance in the governments of successive prime ministers Donald Tusk and Ewa Kopacz from 2013 to 2015.[1][2]

Education

Szczurek studied at the University of Warsaw and University of Sussex where in 1998 he obtained a master's degree, and in 2005 a PhD. He wrote his Masters thesis on "Chaos and non-linearity in Foreign Exchange Markets."[3]

Career in the private sector

In 1997 Szczurek was an economist for ING Bank.[4] In 2011 he became the Chief Economist of ING Group for Central Europe and Eastern Europe. He was chief (2003-2005) and co-founder Towarzystwo Absolwentów Uniwersytetów Brytyjskich (Alumni Association of British Universities). He is a member of Association of Polish Economists.

Political career

On 27 November 2013, the President of Poland appointed Szczurek as Minister of Finance.

During his time in office, Szczurek phased out Poland's flexible credit line (FCL) with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).[5]

In 2014, Szczurek called for the creation of a European Fund for Investments – a special-purpose vehicle under the umbrella of the European Investment Bank – that would be able to finance, through leveraging its own capital, 700 billion euros (US$906.4 billion) worth of investment, to revive the European economy.[6] In 2015, he announced that Polish state development bank BGK and its investment vehicle PIR would invest up to 8 billion euros ($8.5 billion) in projects linked to the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI).[7]

Also in 2015, Szczurek put aside funds the country’s budget for the repatriation – including housing, Polish language lessons and professional training – of tens of thousands of ethnic Poles living in Kazakhstan, Ukraine and other former Soviet republics.[8]

Life after politics

Since leaving office, Szczurek has been teaching public finance and international economics at University of Warsaw. He also serves as Associate Director, Lead Regional Economist in the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), monitoring structural reforms and policy dialogue in Central Europe and the Baltics region.

In October 2016, Szczurek was appointed to the five-member European Fiscal Board, an independent advisory board of the European Commission on fiscal matters.[9]

Other activities

Recognition

Szczurek was named European Finance Minister of the Year in January 2015 by The Banker magazine.,[11] and Finance Minister of the Year Central & Eastern Europe 2014 by Emerging Markets magazine.[12]

Personal life

Szczurek has five children.[13]

References

  1. ↑ "Mateusz Szczurek na ministra finansów. Zastąpi Jana Vincenta Rostowskiego [ZMIANY W RZĄDZIE]" (in Polish). Wyborcza.biz. 2013-11-20. Retrieved 2014-07-18.
  2. ↑ "Mateusz Szczurek nowym szefem resortu finansów". Forbes.pl. 2013-11-20. Retrieved 2014-07-18.
  3. ↑ Karolina Slowikowska (November 20, 2013), PROFILE-Poland's new finance minister Mateusz Szczurek Reuters.
  4. ↑ Pawel Sobczak (20 November 2013), Economist Mateusz Szczurek to be new Polish finance minister Reuters.
  5. ↑ Piotr Skolimowski and Maciej Onoszko (July 29, 2014), Poland Plans to Phase Out IMF Credit Line, Szczurek Says Bloomberg News.
  6. ↑ Jan Strupczewski (4 September 2014), Poland proposes 700 billion euro EU investment plan to boost growth Reuters.
  7. ↑ Anna Koper (April 21, 2015), Poland to contribute up to $8.5 billion to EU investment plan Reuters.
  8. ↑ Poland to bring in exiled ethnic Poles Al Jazeera, 30 September 2015.
  9. ↑ The European Fiscal Board: Questions and Answers European Commission, press release of 19 October 2016.
  10. ↑ Mateusz Szczurek, new Governor for Poland European Investment Bank (EIB), press release of 3 December 2013.
  11. ↑ "Finance Minister of the Year 2015". The Banker. 5 January 2015. Retrieved 26 January 2015.
  12. ↑ "Finance Minister of the Year Central & Eastern Europe 2014". 11 October 2014.
  13. ↑ Karolina Slowikowska (November 20, 2013), PROFILE-Poland's new finance minister Mateusz Szczurek Reuters.


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