Pascal Irénée Koupaki (born 18 May 1951) is a

Benin Benin, officially the Republic of Benin, is a country in West Africa. It was formerly known as Dahomey. It is bordered by Togo to the west, Nigeria to the east, Burkina Faso to the north-west, and Niger to the north-east. The majority of its po ...

ese politician who served as Prime Minister of Benin from May 2011 to August 2013. Koupaki worked as an official at the

Central Bank of West African States The Central Bank of West African States (, BCEAO) is a central bank serving the eight west African countries which share the common West African CFA franc currency and comprise the West African Economic and Monetary Union. The BCEAO is active ...

(BCEAO) and 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), and he was Director of the Cabinet of the Prime Minister from 1996 to 1998. Under President

Yayi Boni Thomas Boni Yayi (born 1 July 1951) is a Beninese banker and politician who was the president of Benin from 2006 to 2016. He took office after winning the 2006 Beninese presidential election, March 2006 presidential election and was re-elected to ...

, Koupaki was

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 ...

from 2006 to 2007 and then Minister of State for the Exploration, Development, and Evaluation of Public Policy from 2007 to 2011. Under President

Patrice Talon Patrice Guillaume Athanase Talon (born 1 May 1958) is a Beninese politician and businessman who has been president of Benin since 6 April 2016. Early life and career Talon is of Fon origin and was born in Ouidah. He descends from slave tra ...

, Koupaki has been Secretary-General of the Presidency since 2016.

Career

Koupaki worked in

Dakar Dakar ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Senegal, largest city of Senegal. The Departments of Senegal, department of Dakar has a population of 1,278,469, and the population of the Dakar metropolitan area was at 4.0 mill ...

at the BCEAO from September 1979 to December 1990, holding a series of high-level posts. Beginning in December 1990, he worked as Deputy Director of the Cabinet of

Alassane Ouattara Alassane Dramane Ouattara (; ; born 1 January 1942) is an Ivorian politician and economist who has been List of heads of state of Ivory Coast, President of Ivory Coast (Côte d'Ivoire) since 2010. An economist by profession, he worked for the I ...

, the Prime Minister of

Côte d'Ivoire Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire and officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital city of Yamoussoukro is located in the centre of the country, while its largest city and ...

. After Ouattara left office, Koupaki took a position at the IMF in September 1994; he then served as Director of the Cabinet of the Prime Minister of Benin, Adrien Houngbedji, from April 1996 to May 1998.Biography
at website of the Union for the Development of New Benin . Following Houngbedji's resignation in May 1998, Koupaki worked at the BCEAO again; he was Director of the Research Department at the BCEAO and then Special Adviser to the Governor, as well as Director of the Department of Research and the Mint. He left the BCEAO when Yayi Boni took office as President of Benin and appointed Koupaki to the government as

in April 2006. A year later, Koupaki was moved to the post of Minister of State for the Exploration, Development, and Evaluation of Public Policy on 17 June 2007; he remained in the latter post until his appointment as Prime Minister on 28 May 2011. Having already been ranked second in protocol, after Boni, it was observed that Koupaki had already effectively been a prime minister and that the appointment merely formalized the situation. Koupaki was viewed as a potential successor to Boni, but beginning in 2012 there was speculation in the press that he had "fallen out of favour". President Boni dismissed Koupaki and the rest of the government on 9 August 2013. When he appointed a new government on 11 August, it did not include the post of Prime Minister; Boni apparently intended to personally coordinate the government's work. Koupaki stood as a candidate in the March 2016 presidential election. He was unsuccessful in the first round of voting and backed

for the second round. Talon won the election, and when he took office on 6 April 2016, he appointed Koupaki as Minister of State and Secretary-General of the Presidency.Vincent Duhem
"Bénin : Patrice Talon nomme un gouvernement sans Premier ministre"
''Jeune Afrique'', 6 April 2016 .

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Koupaki, Pascal 1951 births Living people Prime ministers of Benin Finance ministers of Benin People from Cotonou Candidates for President of Benin 21st-century Beninese politicians Cowry Forces for an Emerging Benin politicians