Sinan Al-Shabibi (; 1 July 1941 – 8 January 2022) was an Iraqi economist who served as the governor of the Central Bank of Iraq from September 2003 to October 2012.

Early life and education

Born in

Baghdad Baghdad ( or ; , ) is the capital and List of largest cities of Iraq, largest city of Iraq, located along the Tigris in the central part of the country. With a population exceeding 7 million, it ranks among the List of largest cities in the A ...

on 1 July 1941 and son of the prominent Iraqi figure

Mohammed Ridha Al-Shabibi Sheikh Mohammed Ridha Al-Shabibi (; 1889 – 1965) was an Iraqi national figure, statesman, poet and educator. A member of the prominent Al-Shabibi family of Najaf he studied religion and literature, and as a young man published poetry in major ...

, Dr. Al-Shabibi held a BSc in Economics from

Baghdad University The University of Baghdad (UOB) (, also known as Baghdad University) is a public research university in Baghdad Baghdad ( or ; , ) is the capital and List of largest cities of Iraq, largest city of Iraq, located along the Tigris in the ...

(1966), a Diploma in Advanced Studies in Economic Development, an MA in Economics from the

University of Manchester The University of Manchester is a public university, public research university in Manchester, England. The main campus is south of Manchester city centre, Manchester City Centre on Wilmslow Road, Oxford Road. The University of Manchester is c ...

(1970, 1971), and a PhD in Economics from the

University of Bristol The University of Bristol is a public university, public research university in Bristol, England. It received its royal charter in 1909, although it can trace its roots to a Merchant Venturers' school founded in 1595 and University College, Br ...

(1975).

Early career

Between May 1975 and March 1977, Al-Shabibi worked as the Head of Imports and Marketing Section at the Iraqi ministry of oil. Then, from April 1977 to December 1980,he served as the Chief of plan Preparation and Co-ordination Division at the Iraqi Ministry of Planning. Immediately after the start of the

Iran–Iraq War The Iran–Iraq War, also known as the First Gulf War, was an armed conflict between Iran and Iraq that lasted from September 1980 to August 1988. Active hostilities began with the Iraqi invasion of Iran and lasted for nearly eight years, unti ...

, he moved to

Geneva Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the ca ...

in Switzerland where he spent from December 1980 to October 2001 working as a Senior Economist in the

United Nations Conference on Trade and Development UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD) is an intergovernmental organization within the United Nations Secretariat that promotes the interests of developing countries in world trade. It was established in 1964 by the United Nations General Assembl ...

(UNCTAD). On 1 August 2002, Al-Shabibi testified among other witnesses at the Hearing Before the

Senate Foreign Relations Committee The United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations is a standing committee of the U.S. Senate charged with leading foreign-policy legislation and debate in the Senate. It is generally responsible for authorizing and overseeing foreign a ...

about possible military action in Iraq. The topics that he addressed were the state of the Iraqi economy and its stabilisation post a possible military campaign.

Governor of the Central Bank of Iraq

Since taking over as central bank governor, Al-Shabibi introduced the bank's employees to modern finance and payment systems. He made the bank switch from typewriters and calculators to computers, introduced it to financial instruments like currency auctions, and replaced Iraq's pre-2003 banknotes with the New

Iraqi Dinar The Iraqi dinar (ISO 4217, code: IQD; ), ) is the currency of Iraq. The Iraqi dinar is issued by the Central Bank of Iraq (CBI). On 7 February 2023, the exchange rate with the US dollar was US$1 = 1300 dinars. History The Iraqi dinar entered ci ...

between October 2003 and January 2004. He also involved directly the Central Bank of Iraq in 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 ...

and

World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and Grant (money), grants to the governments of Least developed countries, low- and Developing country, middle-income countries for the purposes of economic development ...

co-operation programs, in addition to the

Paris Club Paris Club () is a group of major creditor countries aiming to provide a sustainable way to tackle debt problems in debtor countries. Its creation, which is the first informal meeting, dates back to 1956, when Argentina agreed to hold a meeting ...

negotiations where 19 rich creditor nations agreed in 2004 to write off 80 percent of pre-2003 debt to help Iraq recover from the 2003 US-led invasion. Debt forgiveness talks with non-Paris Club nations are still under way. In the effort to further modernise the Central Bank of Iraq, Al-Shabibi appointed

-born architect

Zaha Hadid Dame Zaha Mohammad Hadid ( ''Zahā Ḥadīd''; 31 October 1950 – 31 March 2016) was an Iraqi-born British architect, artist, and designer. She is recognised as a key figure in the architecture of the late-20th and early-21st centuries. Born ...

in August 2010 to design the new headquarters for the Central Bank in

. On 2 February 2012 Zaha Hadid joined Dr Sinan Al‐Shabibi at a ceremony in London to sign the agreement between the Central Bank of Iraq and

Zaha Hadid Architects Zaha Hadid Architects is a British architecture and design firm founded by Zaha Hadid (1950–2016), with its main office situated in Clerkenwell, London. After the death of " starchitect" Hadid, Patrik Schumacher became head of the firm. At ...

for the design stages of the new CBI Headquarters building. Despite a highly uncertain domestic and external environment, Al-Shabibi has held the Iraqi currency, the

firm at about US$1 = IQD 1'190 (US$1 equalled IQD 2'214 in December 2002), reduced inflation to single digits (from 64% in 2006 to 5.2% in September 2012), quadrupled the bank's gold reserves to 32 tonnes, and remained a strong advocate of

central bank A central bank, reserve bank, national bank, or monetary authority is an institution that manages the monetary policy of a country or monetary union. In contrast to a commercial bank, a central bank possesses a monopoly on increasing the mo ...

independence. The implementation of these policies combined with the rise in oil revenues have helped to increase

foreign exchange reserve Foreign exchange reserves (also called forex reserves or FX reserves) are cash and other reserve assets such as gold and silver held by a central bank or other monetary authority that are primarily available to balance payments of the country, ...

s to nearly US$67 billion (as of September 2012) up from US$2.7 billion in December 2002 supporting further Iraq's macroeconomic fundamentals for the purpose of weathering future oil price downside volatility.

Personal life and death

Al Shabibi died on 8 January 2022, at the age of 80.

Publications

*"Globalisation of Finance: Implications for macroeconomic policies and debt management", March 2001, Paper presented to a conference on "Globalization and the Gulf organised by the institute of Arab and Islamic Studies, University of Exeter, England, 2–4 July 2001. *"Prospects for the Iraqi Economy: Facing the new reality". Paper presented to a conference on "The Future of Iraq", organised by the Middle East Institute, Washington. The paper was published in a book with the same title in November 1997 and reprinted in the UNCTAD secretariat. It deals with the effect of sanctions, debt, and war reparations on the future prospects of the Iraqi economy. *"The Arab share in OPEC Aid: Some related facts" in Arabic, in Al-Mustaqbal Al-Arabi, Centre of Arab Unity Studies, Beirut, September 1988. *"OPEC Aid, Issues and Performance" in the OPEC review, Vienna, spring 1987. *"Studies on the Iraqi Economy", Iraqi Economic Forum, London, 2002, pp. 24–27.

Awards

Arabian Business Power 500 – Listed among The World's Most Influential Arabs, June 2012.Arabic version – بالعربيةArabian Business Power 500 – Listed among The World's Most

References

External links

Sinan Al Shabibi
on

C-SPAN Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network (C-SPAN ) is an American Cable television in the United States, cable and Satellite television in the United States, satellite television network, created in 1979 by the cable television industry as a Non ...

Architect Zaha Hadid’s Dreams Rise in the Desert
on Vanity Fair * Related topics – Economy of Iraq * Related topics – Politics of Iraq {{DEFAULTSORT:Shabibi, Sinan 1941 births 2022 deaths Governors of the Central Bank of Iraq Iraqi economists Academics from Baghdad Iraqi Shia Muslims University of Baghdad alumni Alumni of the University of Manchester Alumni of the University of Bristol