Mohammed Said Nabulsi ( ar, محمد سعيد النابلسي; November 1928 – 23 July 2013) was a

Jordan Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...

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

Central Bank of Jordan The Central Bank of Jordan ( ar, البنك المركزي الاردني) 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 forei ...

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

Career

Nabulsi was born in November 1928 in November 1928 in

Jaffa Jaffa, in Hebrew Yafo ( he, יָפוֹ, ) and in Arabic Yafa ( ar, يَافَا) and also called Japho or Joppa, the southern and oldest part of Tel Aviv-Yafo, is an ancient port city in Israel. Jaffa is known for its association with the b ...

Mandatory Palestine Mandatory Palestine ( ar, فلسطين الانتدابية '; he, פָּלֶשְׂתִּינָה (א״י) ', where "E.Y." indicates ''’Eretz Yiśrā’ēl'', the Land of Israel) was a geopolitical entity established between 1920 and 1948 ...

. He studied law at

Damascus University The University of Damascus ( ar, جَامِعَةُ دِمَشْقَ, ''Jāmi‘atu Dimashq'') is the largest and oldest university in Syria, located in the capital Damascus and has campuses in other Syrian cities. It was founded in 1923 through ...

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

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private research university in the Georgetown (Washington, D.C.), Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789 as Georg ...

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 land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

. From 1952 to 1968 Nabulsi worked for the

Central Bank of Syria The Central Bank of Syria (CBS; ar, مصرف سورية المركزي, translit=Masrif Suriat Almarkazi) is the central bank of Syria. The bank was established in 1953 and started operations in 1956. Its headquarters are in Damascus, with 11 ...

. 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 Ahmad Lozi (also spelled Ahmad al-Lawzi) (1925 – 18 November 2014) was a Jordanian politician. He served as the 21st Prime Minister of Jordan from 29 November 1971 to 26 May 1973. He succeeded Wasfi al-Tal who had been assassinated by the Blac ...

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 ( ar, زيد الرفاعي) (born 27 November 1936 in Amman, Jordan) is a Jordanian politician that served as the 22nd Prime Minister of Jordan from April 1984 to April 1989. Biography He served as Prime Minister of Jordan and ...

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, headquartered in Washington, D.C., consisting of 190 countries. Its stated mission is "working to foster globa ...

. 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 Zeid Ibn Shaker, GBE, CVO (4 September 1934 – 30 August 2002) ( ar, الامير زيد بن شاكر) served as commander-in-chief of the Jordanian military for more than twelve years and the 27th Prime Minister of Jordan three times. King ...

. When Nabulsi was appointed as governor upon the request of

King Hussein Hussein bin Talal ( ar, الحسين بن طلال, ''Al-Ḥusayn ibn Ṭalāl''; 14 November 1935 – 7 February 1999) was King of Jordan from 11 August 1952 until his death in 1999. As a member of the Hashemite dynasty, the royal family of ...

, 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 principal currency unit in several countries near the Mediterranean Sea, and its historical use is even more widespread. The modern dinar's historical antecedents are the gold dinar and the silver dirham, the main coin of ...

. 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 1956 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 ba ...

, chaired by Iraqi

Ahmed Chalabi Ahmed Abdel Hadi Chalabi ( ar, أحمد عبد الهادي الجلبي; 30 October 1945 – 3 November 2015) was an Iraqi politician, a founder of the Iraqi National Congress (INC) who served as the President of the Governing Council of ...

, 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; ar, الْجَامِعَةُ السُّورِيَّةُ الْخَاصَّةُ, al-Jāmiʿat as-Sūrīyat al-Khāṣṣat) (formerly: Syrian International University for Science and Technology) is a privat ...

Personal life

Nabulsi married in September 1957 in

Damascus )), is an adjective which means "spacious". , motto = , image_flag = Flag of Damascus.svg , image_seal = Emblem of Damascus.svg , seal_type = Seal , map_caption = , ...

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 University of Jordan faculty 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