Mateusz Szczurek (born 11 August 1975 in

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

) is a Polish

economist An economist is a professional and practitioner in the social sciences, social science discipline of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy. Within this ...

and

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

. He was the Polish

Minister of Finance A ministry of finance is a ministry or other government agency in charge of government finance, fiscal policy, and financial regulation. It is headed by a finance minister, an executive or cabinet position . A ministry of finance's portfolio ...

in the governments of successive prime ministers

Donald Tusk Donald Franciszek Tusk (born 22 April 1957) is a Polish politician and historian who has served as the prime minister of Poland since 2023, previously holding the office from 2007 to 2014. Tusk served as the president of the European Council (20 ...

and

Ewa Kopacz Ewa Bożena Kopacz (; née Lis; born 3 December 1956) is a Polish politician who has served as a Vice-President of the European Parliament since 2019. She previously was Marshal of the Sejm from 2011 to 2014, the first woman to hold the office, as ...

from 2013 to 2015.

Education

Szczurek studied at the

University of Warsaw The University of Warsaw (, ) is a public university, public research university in Warsaw, Poland. Established on November 19, 1816, it is the largest institution of higher learning in the country, offering 37 different fields of study as well ...

and

University of Sussex The University of Sussex is a public university, public research university, research university located in Falmer, East Sussex, England. It lies mostly within the city boundaries of Brighton and Hove. Its large campus site is surrounded by the ...

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."

Career in the private sector

In 1997 Szczurek was an economist for

ING Bank ING Group N.V. () is a Dutch multinational banking and financial services corporation headquartered in Amsterdam. Its primary businesses are retail banking, direct banking, commercial banking, investment banking, wholesale banking, private ban ...

. 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 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). In 2014, Szczurek called for the creation of a European Fund for Investments – a

special-purpose vehicle A special-purpose entity (SPE), also called a special-purpose vehicle (SPV) or a financial vehicle corporation (FVC), is a legal entity (usually a limited company of some type or, sometimes, a limited partnership) created to fulfill narrow, speci ...

under the umbrella of the

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 ...

– 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. 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 The InvestEU Programme, until 2021 known as the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI), also called the Juncker Plan, is an initiative of EIB Group and the European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the primary Executive (gov ...

(EFSI). 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.

Life after politics

Since leaving office, Szczurek has been teaching public finance and international economics at

. He also serves as Associate Director, Lead Regional Economist in the

European Bank for Reconstruction and Development The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, shortened to EBRD ( French: ''Banque européenne pour la reconstruction et le développement'' or ''BERD''), is an international financial institution founded in 1991 in Paris. As a multilat ...

(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 The European Commission (EC) is the primary Executive (government), executive arm of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with a number of European Commissioner, members of the Commission (directorial system, informall ...

on fiscal matters.

Other activities

(EBRD), Ex-Officio Member of the Board of Governors (2013–2015) *

(EIB), Ex-Officio Member of the Board of Governors (2013–2015)

Recognition

Szczurek was named European Finance Minister of the Year in January 2015 by ''

The Banker ''The Banker'' is an English-language monthly international financial affairs publication owned by '' The Financial Times'' and edited in London, United Kingdom. The magazine was first published in January 1926 through founding editor Brendan ...

'' magazine., and Finance Minister of the Year Central & Eastern Europe 2014 by Emerging Markets magazine.

Personal life

Szczurek has five children.Karolina Slowikowska (November 20, 2013)
PROFILE-Poland's new finance minister Mateusz Szczurek
''

Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide writing in 16 languages. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency ...

''.

References

1975 births Ministers of finance of Poland Living people Polish economists Politicians from Warsaw University of Warsaw alumni {{Poland-politician-stub