Mário José Gomes de Freitas Centeno (born 9 December 1966) is a Portuguese economist, university professor, and politician. From 2015 to 2020, he was
Minister of Finance
A finance minister is an executive or cabinet position in charge of one or more of government finances, economic policy and financial regulation.
A finance minister's portfolio has a large variety of names around the world, such as "treasury", " ...
of Portugal in the government cabinet of Prime Minister
António Costa
António Luís Santos da Costa GCIH (; born 17 July 1961) is a Portuguese lawyer and politician serving as the 119th and current prime minister of Portugal since 26 November 2015, presiding over the XXI (2015–2019), XXII (2019–2022) and ...
of the
Portuguese Socialist Party (PS). He was the president of the
Eurogroup and chairman of the board of Governors of the
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 ...
from 2018 to 2020. Previously, he was a
board member
A board of directors (commonly referred simply as the board) is an executive committee that jointly supervises the activities of an organization, which can be either a for-profit or a nonprofit organization such as a business, nonprofit organi ...
economist of the
Bank of Portugal
The Banco de Portugal (English: Bank of Portugal) is the central bank of the Portuguese Republic. The bank was founded by royal charter in 1846, during the reign of Queen Maria II of Portugal, by a merger of the '' Banco de Lisboa'' (Bank of Lis ...
. On 9 June 2020, he announced his resignation from the Ministry of Finance, effective 15 June. On 16 July 2020, the
Council of Ministers
A council is a group of people who come together to consult, deliberate, or make decisions. A council may function as a legislature, especially at a town, city or county/shire level, but most legislative bodies at the state/provincial or natio ...
approved Centeno's nomination for the post of Governor of the
Bank of Portugal
The Banco de Portugal (English: Bank of Portugal) is the central bank of the Portuguese Republic. The bank was founded by royal charter in 1846, during the reign of Queen Maria II of Portugal, by a merger of the '' Banco de Lisboa'' (Bank of Lis ...
, put forward by his successor as Finance minister,
João Leão
João Rodrigo Reis Carvalho Leão (born 15 February 1974) is a Portuguese economist, university professor, and politician. He served as Minister of Finance in the government of Prime Minister António Costa of Portugal, sworn in on 15 June 2020. ...
. Centeno is the author or co-author of several scientific publications, books and book chapters related to his areas of interest, such as
labour economics,
econometrics
Econometrics is the application of Statistics, statistical methods to economic data in order to give Empirical evidence, empirical content to economic relationships.M. Hashem Pesaran (1987). "Econometrics," ''The New Palgrave: A Dictionary of ...
,
microeconomics
Microeconomics is a branch of mainstream economics that studies the behavior of individuals and firms in making decisions regarding the allocation of scarce resources and the interactions among these individuals and firms. Microeconomics fo ...
and
contract theory
From a legal point of view, a contract is an institutional arrangement for the way in which resources flow, which defines the various relationships between the parties to a transaction or limits the rights and obligations of the parties.
From an ...
.
Education
Centeno, a native from
Algarve
The Algarve (, , ; from ) is the southernmost NUTS II region of continental Portugal. It has an area of with 467,495 permanent inhabitants and incorporates 16 municipalities ( ''concelhos'' or ''municípios'' in Portuguese).
The region has it ...
region in southern mainland Portugal, was born in Olhão but was raised until his 15th anniversary in
Vila Real de Santo António
Vila Real de Santo António (, often run together as ) is a city, civil parish, and municipality in the Algarve, Portugal. The population in 2011 was 19,156, in an area of 61.25 km2. It is one of the few municipalities in Portugal without ter ...
. He studied economics at
University of Lisbon
The University of Lisbon (ULisboa; pt, Universidade de Lisboa, ) is a public research university in Lisbon, and the largest university in Portugal. It was founded in 2013, from the merger of two previous public universities located in Lisbon, th ...
, faculty of Economics and Business Management (ISEG-ULISBOA), graduating in 1990. He earned a master's degree in
applied mathematics
Applied mathematics is the application of mathematical methods by different fields such as physics, engineering, medicine, biology, finance, business, computer science, and industry. Thus, applied mathematics is a combination of mathematical s ...
from ISEG-ULISBOA in 1993, a master's degree in economics from
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
that he completed in 1998, and he was awarded a PhD in economics by Harvard University in 2000.
Lawrence Katz was his adviser.
Early career
An expert on labour market issues, Centeno joined the
Banco de Portugal
The Banco de Portugal (English: Bank of Portugal) is the central bank of the Portuguese Republic. The bank was founded by royal charter in 1846, during the reign of Queen Maria II of Portugal, by a merger of the '' Banco de Lisboa'' (Bank of Lis ...
(Central Bank of Portugal) in 2000, where he worked as an economist until 2004. He was member of the Executive Committee of European Association of Labor Economists (EALE) from 2003 to 2005. From 2004 to 2013 he was assistant director of the Central Bank Economics’ Department. He was member of the
Economic Policy Committee of the
European Commission
The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body o ...
between 2004 and 2013. He also directed the Macroeconomics Statistics Development's work group in the Superior Statistics Council (CSE) between 2007 and 2013.
[Board of Governors: Mário Centeno](_blank)
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 ...
.
From 2014, Centeno was Professor at ISEG,
University of Lisbon
The University of Lisbon (ULisboa; pt, Universidade de Lisboa, ) is a public research university in Lisbon, and the largest university in Portugal. It was founded in 2013, from the merger of two previous public universities located in Lisbon, th ...
, and worked as a consultant to the Central Bank of Portugal. In addition, he served as the main economic policy advisor to Socialist leader
António Costa
António Luís Santos da Costa GCIH (; born 17 July 1961) is a Portuguese lawyer and politician serving as the 119th and current prime minister of Portugal since 26 November 2015, presiding over the XXI (2015–2019), XXII (2019–2022) and ...
, coordinating the Socialist economic programme before the
2015 legislative elections.
Political career
Minister of Finance
After taking office as Finance Minister in 2015, Centeno enacted policies which reversed some austerity policies from the
Portuguese government-debt crisis (2010–2014). The new post-crisis situation allowed him to authorize a public pensions' rise and improved wage payment to civil servants as a way to "increase households’ disposable income", while insisting that European Union's budget rules must be respected. Early in his tenure, he urged the EU to acknowledge the scale of Portugal's economic turnround as the country headed towards its lowest fiscal deficit in more than 40 years and to remove Portugal from the group of countries subject to penalties for breaking the
European Fiscal Compact
The Treaty on Stability, Coordination and Governance in the Economic and Monetary Union; also referred to as TSCG, or more plainly the Fiscal Stability Treaty is an Enhanced cooperation#Related intergovernmental treaties, intergovernmental treat ...
. By the end of 2017, national opinion polls placed Centeno as the best-known and best-liked minister.
In November 2017, Centeno submitted his formal application for succeeding
Jeroen Dijsselbloem as the next chairman of the
Eurogroup. On 4 December 2017, he was elected President of the
Eurogroup, incumbent from 13 January 2018. Reportedly favored by an informal agreement between French President
Emmanuel Macron
Emmanuel Macron (; born 21 December 1977) is a French politician who has served as President of France since 2017. ''Ex officio'', he is also one of the two Co-Princes of Andorra. Prior to his presidency, Macron served as Minister of Econ ...
and German Chancellor
Angela Merkel, he defeated
Pierre Gramegna
Pierre Gramegna (born 22 April 1958) is a Luxembourgish career diplomat and politician of the Democratic Party who has been serving as managing director of the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) since 2022. He previously, served as Minister for F ...
of
Luxembourg
Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...
,
Peter Kažimír
Peter Kažimír (born 28 June 1968 in Košice, Czechoslovak Socialist Republic, Czechoslovakia)) is a Slovak central banker and former politician, currently serving as the Governor of the National Bank of Slovakia (NBS). He previously served as the ...
of
Slovakia
Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the s ...
and
Dana Reizniece-Ozola
Dana Reizniece-Ozola (born November 6, 1981) is a Latvian chess player and politician. She is the current managing director of the International Chess Federation (FIDE) since 2021. She also served as minister of Economics (2014–2016) and mini ...
of
Latvia
Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...
. His election carried particular symbolic weight because he is from one of the countries hardest hit by the debt crisis. He would serve a -year term, which is renewable. On 21 December 2017, he was appointed as chairman of the board of Governors of the
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 ...
, effective from 13 January 2018.
Following the resignation of
Christine Lagarde as managing director of the
International Monetary Fund
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is a major financial agency of the United Nations, and an international financial institution, headquartered in Washington, D.C., consisting of 190 countries. Its stated mission is "working to foster globa ...
(IMF) in 2019, Centeno was one of the candidates considered by European governments as potential successor; he withdrew his candidacy shortly after and the post went to
Kristalina Georgieva
Kristalina Ivanova Georgieva-Kinova ( bg, Кристалина Иванова Георгиева-Кинова; ; born 13 August 1953) is a Bulgarian economist serving as managing director of the International Monetary Fund since 2019. She was t ...
instead.
Completely unknown to the public at the time he entered government as minister, Centeno had a reputation for
economic liberalism
Economic liberalism is a political and economic ideology that supports a market economy based on individualism and private property in the means of production. Adam Smith is considered one of the primary initial writers on economic liberalism ...
in international academic circles because of his positions and research work in favour of greater
labor market flexibility
The degree of labour market flexibility is the speed with which labour markets adapt to fluctuations and changes in society, the economy or production. This entails enabling labour markets to reach a continuous equilibrium determined by the inter ...
. However, during is tenure as Portuguese minister of finance (2015-2020), decades-long rigidity and inefficiency issues of the Portuguese labor market remained an unresolved problem hampering the Portuguese economy while the deepening of economic liberal policies in accordance with his positions and academic theories weren't put in place in a country persistently criticized by institutions and organizations like the
OECD
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD; french: Organisation de coopération et de développement économiques, ''OCDE'') is an intergovernmental organisation with 38 member countries, founded in 1961 to stimulate e ...
, the
IMF
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is a major financial agency of the United Nations, and an international financial institution, headquartered in Washington, D.C., consisting of 190 countries. Its stated mission is "working to foster globa ...
and the
European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...
for its anti-market, labor movement-inspired labor laws and rules which promote
overstaffing
In Keynesian economics, underemployment equilibrium is a situation with a persistent shortfall relative to full employment and potential output so that unemployment is higher than at the NAIRU or the natural rate of unemployment, "natural" rate of ...
and the misallocation of factors of production in general.
In early 2020, the Parliament of Portugal followed Centeno's proposal and approved the country's first budget with a surplus in almost half a century in spite of the number of civil servants has increased for a sixth straight year. But an increasing deterioration of public services including in health, education and transportation infrastructure due to a lack of funding and
government spending
Government spending or expenditure includes all government consumption, investment, and transfer payments. In national income accounting, the acquisition by governments of goods and services for current use, to directly satisfy the individual o ...
was perceptible while the country continued to fall behind in
purchasing power and
productivity
Productivity is the efficiency of production of goods or services expressed by some measure. Measurements of productivity are often expressed as a ratio of an aggregate output to a single input or an aggregate input used in a production proces ...
in the context of the European Union, a feature that was associated with the persistent misallocation of capital, labor and skills. During Centeno's tenure as minister a record high
tax burden was reached in Portugal.
Controversy
In early 2018, Centeno was being investigated for allegedly accepting
S.L. Benfica tickets in exchange for a favourable tax treatment for a real-estate company owned by the son of Benfica president
Luís Filipe Vieira.
[Paul Ames,]
Police search offices of Eurogroup President Mário Centeno
, '' Politico Europe'', 27 January 2018. Updated 28 January 2018. Retrieved 28 January 2018.[Niels Posthumus,]
Politie doet inval bij Portugese ministerie van Financiën
(in Dutch), ''NRC Handelsblad
''NRC'', previously called ''NRC Handelsblad'' (), is a daily morning newspaper published in the Netherlands by NRC Media. It is generally accepted as a newspaper of record in the Netherlands.
History
''NRC Handelsblad'' was first published on 1 ...
'', 28 January 2018. Retrieved 28 January 2018. On 26 January 2018, Centeno's office was searched by the Portuguese police.
On 1 February, prosecutors dropped the investigation, concluding there was "no crime of favoritism or any other (crime)" and that it has archived the case.
Later career
In June 2020, the Portuguese government nominated Centeno as the next governor of the
Bank of Portugal
The Banco de Portugal (English: Bank of Portugal) is the central bank of the Portuguese Republic. The bank was founded by royal charter in 1846, during the reign of Queen Maria II of Portugal, by a merger of the '' Banco de Lisboa'' (Bank of Lis ...
, succeeding
Carlos da Silva Costa.
Other activities
;European Union organizations
*
European Investment Bank
The European Investment Bank (EIB) is the European Union's investment bank and is owned by the EU Member States. It is one of the largest supranational lenders in the world. The EIB finances and invests both through equity and debt solutions ...
(EIB), Ex-Officio Member of the Board of Governors (2015–2020)
*
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 ...
(ESM), Member of the Board of Governors (2015–2020)
;International organizations
*
African Development Bank
The African Development Bank Group (AfDB) or (BAD) is a multilateral development finance institution headquartered in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, since September 2014. The AfDB is a financial provider to African governments and private companies i ...
(AfDB), Ex-Officio Member of the Board of Governors (2015–2020)
*
Asian Development Bank
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is a regional development bank established on 19 December 1966, which is headquartered in the Ortigas Center located in the city of Mandaluyong, Metro Manila, Philippines. The bank also maintains 31 field office ...
(ADB), Ex-Officio Member of the Board of Governors (2015–2020)
*
European Bank for Reconstruction and Development
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is an international financial institution founded in 1991. As a multilateral developmental investment bank, the EBRD uses investment as a tool to build market economies. Initially focus ...
(EBRD), Ex-Officio Member of the Board of Governors (2015–2020)
*
Inter-American Investment Corporation
The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB or IADB) is an International financial institutions, international financial institution headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States of America, and serving as the largest source of development finan ...
(IIC), Ex-Officio Member of the Board of Governors (2015–2020)
*
Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA),
World Bank Group
The World Bank Group (WBG) is a family of five international organizations that make leveraged loans to developing countries. It is the largest and best-known development bank in the world and an observer at the United Nations Development Grou ...
, Ex-Officio Member of the Board of Governors (2015–2020)
*
World Bank
The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and grants to the governments of low- and middle-income countries for the purpose of pursuing capital projects. The World Bank is the collective name for the Interna ...
, Ex-Officio Member of the Board of Governors (2015–2020)
;Non-profit organizations
*
Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), Fellow (since 2009)
[Mário Centeno](_blank)
Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
* ''
Portuguese Economic Journal'', Member of the Editorial Board (since 2001)
Recognition
* 2001 – Young Economist Award of the European Economic Association (EEA)
* 2006 – Latin Union Award for Scientific Merit
Personal life
Centeno was married to Maria Margarida Morgado, one of his university classmates from ISEG, and had three children with her. She died in 2022.
As a student, Centeno played rugby for the economics faculty. He is a keen soccer enthusiast and supports Lisbon club
Benfica. He wore a Portugal soccer scarf to the first Eurogroup meeting after his country won the European championship in 2016.
[Axel Bugge (4 December 2017)]
Centeno brings Portuguese charm to Eurogroup top job
''Reuters
Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters Corporation. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world.
The agency was estab ...
''.
References
External links
*
, -
{{DEFAULTSORT:Centeno, Mario
1966 births
Finance ministers of Portugal
Government ministers of Portugal
Governors of the Bank of Portugal
Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni
Living people
Members of the Assembly of the Republic (Portugal)
People from Olhão
20th-century Portuguese economists
Technical University of Lisbon alumni
Independent politicians in Portugal
21st-century Portuguese economists