Christos Staikouras (; born 12 August 1973) is a Greek economist and politician who is currently

New Democracy New Democracy, or the New Democratic Revolution, is a type of democracy in Marxism, based on Mao Zedong's Bloc of Four Social Classes theory in post-revolutionary China which argued originally that democracy in China would take a path that w ...

's coordinator of economic affairs. Since the 2007 legislative election, he has been a Member of the

Hellenic Parliament The Parliament of the Hellenes (), commonly known as the Hellenic Parliament (), is the Unicameralism, unicameral legislature of Greece, located in the Old Royal Palace, overlooking Syntagma Square in Athens. The parliament is the supreme demo ...

(MP) for

Phthiotis Phthiotis (, ''Fthiótida'' ; ancient Greek and Katharevousa: Φθιῶτις) is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the administrative region of Central Greece (administrative region), Central Greece. The capital is the city of La ...

. After the 2019 election, he was appointed minister for finance in the Cabinet of Kyriakos Mitsotakis serving from 2019 to 2023. Staikouras was born in

Lamia Lamia (; ), in ancient Greek mythology, was a child-eating monster and, in later tradition, was regarded as a type of night-haunting spirit or "daimon". In the earliest myths, Lamia was a beautiful queen of ancient Libya who had an affair with ...

, and studied

mechanical engineering Mechanical engineering is the study of physical machines and mechanism (engineering), mechanisms that may involve force and movement. It is an engineering branch that combines engineering physics and engineering mathematics, mathematics principl ...

at the

National Technical University of Athens The National (Metsovian) Technical University of Athens (NTUA; , ''National Metsovian Polytechnic''), sometimes known as Athens Polytechnic, a university in Athens, Greece. It is named in honor of its benefactors Nikolaos Stournaris, Eleni Tosi ...

. He went on to complete an

MBA A Master of Business Administration (MBA) is a professional degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration; elective courses may allow further study in a particular a ...

Imperial College London Imperial College London, also known as Imperial, is a Public university, public research university in London, England. Its history began with Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Prince Albert, husband of Queen Victoria, who envisioned a Al ...

and a

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

in banking at

City University London City, University of London was a public university from 1966 to 2024 in London, England. It merged with St George's, University of London to form City St George's, University of London in August 2024. The names "City, University of London" and ...

. He worked as an analyst for the

Bank of England The Bank of England is the central bank of the United Kingdom and the model on which most modern central banks have been based. Established in 1694 to act as the Kingdom of England, English Government's banker and debt manager, and still one ...

and then

Eurobank Ergasias Eurobank is a financial organisation that operates in Greece, Cyprus, Luxembourg, Bulgaria and the UK. As of December 2018, the Eurobank Group counts, in assets, 653 customer service locations in Greece and abroad, and 13,162 employees. Eur ...

before becoming a lecturer at the

Athens University of Economics and Business Athens University of Economics and Business (AUEB; , ''Oikonomiko Panepistimio Athinon'', abbrev. ΟΠΑ, OPA) is a public university based in Athens, Greece, specializing in the fields of Economics, Business Administration, and Information Tech ...

in 2002. He continued in this role whilst taking on additional responsibilities, including at the

University of Thessaly The University of Thessaly (UTh; Greek: ) is a public university in Thessaly, Greece, founded in 1984. The university includes the main campus in the city of Volos and regional campuses located in Karditsa, Larissa, Trikala, and the city of Lamia ...

and the

Hellenic Open University The Hellenic Open University (HOU; Greek: Ελληνικό Ανοικτό Πανεπιστήμιο, ΕΑΠ) was founded in 1992 in Patras and is the only online/distance-learning public university in Greece. Modelled on the British Open University ...

. In 2006, he was made an assistant professor of finance at the Athens University of Economics and Business, going on leave in 2007. He was first elected as a New Democracy MP for Phthiotis at the 2007 election. He has been re-elected in all elections since, and in June 2012 was appointed as an alternate minister for finance, serving until January 2015.

Early life and education

Staikouras was born in

, in 1973. In 1991, he graduated from the 39th General Lyceum of Kypseli and from 1991 to 1996 studied a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, B.S., B.Sc., SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree that is awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Scienc ...

(BSc) degree in

at the

(NTUA). During his time at NTUA he was a member of the student senate and was President of the Student Association for mechanical engineering students. From 1996 to 1997, he completed a

Master of Business Administration A Master of Business Administration (MBA) is a professional degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration; elective courses may allow further study in a particular ...

(MBA) at

. From November 1997 to May 2001 he completed a

in banking at

, with the thesis "European banking industry: Sources of income and profitability." For his postgraduate studies, he was the recipient of a scholarship from the Eugenides Foundation, based in Athens.

Academic career

From September to December 1999, he worked as a visiting lecturer at

. He went on to work as a scientific associate for the

from January to June 2000 before moving to Greece and working as a strategy analyst for

from August 2000 to June 2002. Beginning in February 2002, Staikouras also worked as a lecturer in finance at the

, continuing in this role for a number of years whilst other jobs took place on the sidelines. From July 2002 to January 2004, he returned to Eurobank Ergasias, working as an advisor to the board of directors. In February 2004 he took up the role of associate professor of economic sciences at the

, continuing until September 2004, when he became a member of the teaching staff at the

. In July 2006, Staikouras was made an assistant professor of finance at the Athens University of Economics and Business, ending his role at the Hellenic Open University in August 2007. In September 2007, he went on extended leave after his election as a Member of the

Political career

In the 2007 legislative election, Staikouras was first elected as a

Member of the

(MP) representing

. Upon his election, he was appointed as a member of the Standing Committee on Economic Affairs and became a member of both the Central Committee and Political Committee of New Democracy. Following his re-election in

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

, he was also appointed as a member of the Special Standing Committee on the Financial Statement and General Balance Sheet of the State. Staikouras was re-elected in both the

May May is the fifth month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian calendars. Its length is 31 days. May is a month of spring in the Northern Hemisphere, and autumn in the Southern Hemisphere. Therefore, May in the Southern Hemisphere is the ...

and June 2012 elections, and following the June election was appointed as an Alternate Minister for Finance in the

Cabinet of Antonis Samaras The Cabinet of Antonis Samaras succeeded the Caretaker Cabinet of Panagiotis Pikrammenos after the repeated legislative elections in May and June 2012. The cabinet The cabinet was sworn in on Thursday, 21 June 2012. The former ministries of ...

. In this capacity, he oversaw the national accounts between 2012 and 2014 during Greece's second bailout.Kerin Hope (18 August 2019)
Greece's new finance minister vows to prioritise tax reforms
''

Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and also published digitally that focuses on business and economic Current affairs (news format), current affairs. Based in London, the paper is owned by a Jap ...

''. In October 2014, Staikouras presented the draft budget before the Hellenic Parliament, predicting a 2.4% rise in growth in 2015. He said: "The conditions for sustained long-term growth are in the process of being created," although doubt was cast on his predictions as they may have been "too optimistic." He served as Alternate Minister for Finance until the January 2015 legislative election, which resulted in a loss for New Democracy. From February 2015 until July 2019, Staikouras was Coordinator of Economic Affairs for New Democracy during the party's spell in opposition, serving successively in the shadow cabinets of

Antonis Samaras Antonis Samaras (, ; born 23 May 1951) is a Greek politician who served as Prime Minister of Greece from 2012 to 2015. A member of the New Democracy (Greece), New Democracy party, he was its president from 2009 until 2015. Samaras started his na ...

, Evangelos Meimarakis,

Ioannis Plakiotakis Giannis Plakiotakis (; born 10 July 1968) is a Greek politician who served as the acting President of New Democracy following the resignation of Vangelis Meimarakis. He has been a Member of the Hellenic Parliament (MP) for Lasithi since 2004. ...

and

Kyriakos Mitsotakis Kyriakos Mitsotakis (, ; born 4 March 1968) is a Greek politician currently serving as the prime minister of Greece since July 2019, except for a month between May and June 2023. Mitsotakis has been president of the New Democracy (Greece), New ...

. Shortly after taking office as Minister of Finance in 2019, Staikouras successfully pushed through parliament his first piece of legislation, cutting an annual

property tax A property tax (whose rate is expressed as a percentage or per mille, also called ''millage'') is an ad valorem tax on the value of a property.In the OECD classification scheme, tax on property includes "taxes on immovable property or Wealth t ...

by an average of 22 per cent per household and reviving a plan for tax

arrears In finance, arrears (or arrearage) is a legal term for the part of a debt that is overdue after missing one or more required payments. The amount of the arrears is the amount accrued from the date on which the first missed payment was due. The t ...

to be paid in 120 monthly instalments.

Other activities

Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) is a multilateral development bank and international financial institution that aims to collectively improve economic and social outcomes in Asia. It is the world's second largest multi-lateral d ...

(AIIB), Ex-Officio Member of the Board of Governors (2019–2023) *

European Investment Bank The European Investment Bank (EIB) is the European Union's investment bank and is owned by the 27 member states. It is the largest multilateral financial institution in the world. The EIB finances and invests both through equity and debt sol ...

(EIB), Ex-Officio Member of the Board of Governors (2019–2023) *

European Stability Mechanism The European Stability Mechanism (ESM) is an intergovernmental organization located in Luxembourg City, which operates under public international law for all eurozone member states having ratified a special ESM intergovernmental treaty. It was ...

, Ex-Officio Member of the Board of Governors (2019–2023) *

International Monetary Fund The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is a major financial agency of the United Nations, and an international financial institution funded by 191 member countries, with headquarters in Washington, D.C. It is regarded as the global lender of las ...

(IMF), Ex-Officio Member of the Board of Governors (2019–2023)Members

(IMF).

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Staikouras, Christos 1973 births Living people 21st-century Greek economists Greek government-debt crisis Alumni of Imperial College London Alumni of City, University of London Academic staff of the Athens University of Economics and Business National Technical University of Athens alumni Academic staff of Hellenic Open University Academic staff of the University of Thessaly Finance ministers of Greece Greek MPs 2007–2009 Greek MPs 2009–2012 Greek MPs 2012 (May) Greek MPs 2012–2014 Greek MPs 2015 (February–August) Greek MPs 2015–2019 Greek MPs 2019–2023 New Democracy (Greece) politicians People from Lamia (city) Greek MPs 2023–