Njuguna S. Ndung'u is a Kenyan

economist An economist is a professional and practitioner in the social sciences, social science discipline of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy. Within this ...

who is the

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", " ...

in the

cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filing ...

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

William Samoei Ruto William Kipchirchir Samoei Arap Ruto (born 21 December 1966) is a Kenyan politician who is serving as the fifth and current president of Kenya since 13 September 2022. Prior to becoming president, he served as the 11th deputy president of Ken ...

since October 2022. Ndung'u previously served as the eighth Governor of the Central Bank of Kenya for two consecutive four-year terms, from March 2007 until March 2015.

Early life and education

Ndung'u was born in Kandara, Murang'a county in Kenya in 1960. He studied economics at the

University of Nairobi , mottoeng = In unity and work , image = Uon emblem.gif , image_size = 210px , caption = Coat of Arms of the University , type = Public , endowment ...

, earning both a

Bachelor of Arts in Economics The Bachelor of Economics (BEc or BEcon), or the "Bachelor of Applied Economics", is a bachelor's degree awarded by many universities and colleges for completion of an undergraduate program in economics, econometrics, or applied economics; the ...

and a Master of Arts in Economics from the university. His

Doctor of Philosophy A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common Academic degree, degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields ...

, also in economics, was obtained from the

University of Gothenburg The University of Gothenburg ( sv, Göteborgs universitet) is a university in Sweden's second largest city, Gothenburg. Founded in 1891, the university is the third-oldest of the current Swedish universities and with 37,000 students and 6000 st ...

in Sweden.

Career

Career in academia

Before his appointment as Governor of the Central Bank of Kenya, Ndung'u was the director of training at the African Economic Research Consortium (AERC). He lectured in advanced economic theory and

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 ...

at the University of Nairobi, where he was an associate professor of economics. He also worked as a regional programme specialist for the Eastern and Southern Africa Regional Office, Nairobi, of the

International Development Research Centre The International Development Research Centre (IDRC; french: Centre de recherches pour le développement international, ''CRDI'') is a Canadian federal Crown corporation that funds research and innovation within and alongside developing regions ...

, Canada; and at the Kenya Institute for Public Policy Research and Analysis as a principal analyst/researcher and head of the Macroeconomic and Economic Modelling Division. Ndung'u conducted extensive research and teaching work in various fields of economics, including

macroeconomics Macroeconomics (from the Greek prefix ''makro-'' meaning "large" + ''economics'') is a branch of economics dealing with performance, structure, behavior, and decision-making of an economy as a whole. For example, using interest rates, taxes, and ...

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 ...

, econometrics, and

poverty reduction Poverty reduction, poverty relief, or poverty alleviation, is a set of measures, both economic and humanitarian, that are intended to permanently lift people out of poverty. Measures, like those promoted by Henry George in his economics clas ...

. He published in international journals as well as chapters in various books on economic policy issues, inflation, interest rate and exchange rate issues, financial management, public sector growth, external debt, financial liberalization in Anglophone Africa, structural adjustment, as well as on employment and labour market issues.

Return to academia

In 2018, Ndung’u re-joined the AERC, this time as executive director. In 2019, he served on the advisory board of the annual

Human Development Report The Human Development Report (HDR) is an annual Human Development Index report published by the Human Development Report Office of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The first HDR was launched in 1990 by the Pakistani economist ...

of the

United Nations Development Programme The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)french: Programme des Nations unies pour le développement, PNUD is a United Nations agency tasked with helping countries eliminate poverty and achieve sustainable economic growth and human dev ...

(UNDP), co-chaired by

Thomas Piketty Thomas Piketty (; born 7 May 1971) is a French economist who is Professor of Economics at the School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences, Associate Chair at the Paris School of Economics and Centennial Professor of Economics in the Int ...

and

Tharman Shanmugaratnam Tharman Shanmugaratnam (Tamil: தர்மன் சண்முகரத்தினம்; born 25 February 1957) is a Singaporean politician and economist who has been serving as Senior Minister of Singapore since 2019 and has also been Co ...

Other activities

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 (since 2022) *

East African Development Bank The East African Development Bank (EADB) is a development finance institution with the objective of promoting development in the member countries of the East African Community. Overview EADB plays a threefold role of lender, adviser, and developm ...

(EADB), Ex-Officio Member of the Governing Council (since 2022) *

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), Ex-Officio Member of the Board of Governors (since 2022)Members

(IMF). *

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 (since 2022)

Succession table

References

External links

CBK Board Taps New Chairman To Replace Ndung’u

Website of Central Bank of Kenya
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ndung'u, Njuguna Living people 1960 births Central Bank of Kenya people Kikuyu people 21st-century Kenyan economists Kenyan bankers Governors of the Central Bank of Kenya University of Gothenburg alumni University of Nairobi alumni 20th-century Kenyan economists