Mohammed Said Nabulsi (; November 1928 – 23 July 2013) was a

Jordan Jordan, officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in the Southern Levant region of West Asia. Jordan is bordered by Syria to the north, Iraq to the east, Saudi Arabia to the south, and Israel and the occupied Palestinian ter ...

ian banker, economist and politician. He served as Governor of the

Central Bank of Jordan The Central Bank of Jordan () is the central bank of Jordan whose main duties include the release and distribution of the Jordanian currency and the maintenance of a national reserve of gold and foreign currencies. The bank also maintains and ins ...

two times, first from 1973–1985, and secondly from 1989–1995.

Career

Nabulsi was born in November 1928 in November 1928 in

Jaffa Jaffa (, ; , ), also called Japho, Joppa or Joppe in English, is an ancient Levantine Sea, Levantine port city which is part of Tel Aviv, Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel, located in its southern part. The city sits atop a naturally elevated outcrop on ...

Mandatory Palestine Mandatory Palestine was a British Empire, British geopolitical entity that existed between 1920 and 1948 in the Palestine (region), region of Palestine, and after 1922, under the terms of the League of Nations's Mandate for Palestine. After ...

. He studied law at

Damascus University Damascus University () is the largest and oldest university in Syria, located in the capital Damascus, with campuses in other Syrian cities. It was founded in 1923 as the Syrian University () through the merger of the Faculty of Medicine of Dama ...

between 1948 and 1952 and received a Ph.D. in Economics from

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private Jesuit research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic higher education, Ca ...

after studying there between 1954 and 1956 and 1959 and 1960. Between 1958 and 1959 he studied at

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

. From 1952 to 1968 Nabulsi worked for the

Central Bank of Syria The Central Bank of Syria (; CBS) is the central bank of Syria. The bank was established in 1953 and started operations in 1956. Its headquarters are in Damascus, with 11 branches in the provincial capitals. The objective of the bank is "to fost ...

. After his time in Syria Nabulsi moved to Jordan, where he went to work at the Central Bank of Jordan. While at the same working as a lecturer for the University of Amman. In 1972 he joined the government of Prime Minister Ahmad al-Lawzi as Minister of National Economy. He served for one year, when he became Governor of the Central Bank of Jordan, at this time he also stopped working as a lecturer at the university. After

Zaid al-Rifai Zaid al-Rifai (; 27 November 1936 – 12 August 2024) was a Jordanian politician who served as the 22nd Prime Minister of Jordan, prime minister of Jordan, holding office from May 1973 to July 1976 and again from April 1984 to April 1989. His s ...

became prime minister in 1985, Nabulsi left his position and started working as an adviser to 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 ...

. During this time he also headed the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia, and was an Under Secretary General. In 1989 he once more became the Governor of the Central Bank of Jordan after being appointed by Premier

Zaid ibn Shaker Zaid ibn Shaker, GBE, CVO (4 September 1934 – 30 August 2002) () was a Jordanian military officer and politician who served as the commander-in-chief of the Jordanian military for more than twelve years and the 27th Prime Minister of Jordan ...

. When Nabulsi was appointed as governor upon the request of

King Hussein Hussein bin Talal (14 November 1935 – 7 February 1999) was King of Jordan from 1952 until his death in 1999. As a member of the Hashemite dynasty, the royal family of Jordan since 1921, Hussein was traditionally considered a 40th-generati ...

, his mission was to try to make an end to the economic bad times for Jordan. He tried to do so by strengthening Jordan's currency, the

dinar The dinar () is the name of the principal currency unit in several countries near the Mediterranean Sea, with a more widespread historical use. The English word "dinar" is the transliteration of the Arabic دينار (''dīnār''), which was bor ...

. As the Central Bank lacked foreign currency Nabulsi ordered all banks to stash 35% of their foreign currency at the Central Bank. The

Petra Bank Petra Bank was a Jordanian bank. It began in 1977 when Prince Hassan bin Talal, the Crown Prince of Jordan approached Ahmad Chalabi, an Iraqi economist while the latter was teaching at the American University of Beirut to launch a new Jordanian ban ...

, chaired by Iraqi

Ahmed Chalabi Ahmed Abdel Hadi Chalabi (; 30 October 1945 – 3 November 2015) was an Iraqi dissident politician, convicted fraudster and founder of the Iraqi National Congress (INC) who served as the President of the Governing Council of Iraq ( 37th ...

, failed to do so. An investigation into the situation at Petra Bank uncovered that some of the bank's assets not really existed, leading to accusations of false accounting and embezzlement. The bank failed, resulting in a bail-out operation by the central bank worth $350 million in 1989. Chalabi was later sentenced to 22 years imprisonment with hard labour in absentia. Nabulsi's five-year term ended in 1994 and he was reappointed for another term. He resigned as of 1 January 1996. During his career Nabulsi also worked for the

United Nations Industrial Development Organization The United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) (French: Organisation des Nations unies pour le développement industriel; French/Spanish acronym: ONUDI) is a specialized agency of the United Nations that assists countries in e ...

as a financial expert, and as a professor for the

Syrian Private University Syrian Private University or SPU (SPU; ), formerly ''Syrian International University for Science and Technology'', is a private university located in Syria.Damascus Damascus ( , ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in the Levant region by population, largest city of Syria. It is the oldest capital in the world and, according to some, the fourth Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. Kno ...

to Naila Nabulsi. The couple had three children. He died on 23 July 2013.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nabulsi, Mohammed Said 1928 births 2013 deaths People from Jaffa Damascus University alumni Georgetown University alumni University of California, Berkeley alumni Academic staff of the University of Jordan Economy ministers of Jordan Governors of the Central Bank of Jordan Jordanian economists Under-Secretaries-General of the United Nations Jordanian officials of the United Nations