Peter Kažimír (born 28 June 1968) is a Slovak economist and former politician who is currently serving as the governor of the

National Bank of Slovakia National Bank of Slovakia (, NBS) is the national central bank for Slovakia within the Eurosystem. It was the Slovak central bank from 1993 to 2008, issuing the koruna. Since 2014, it has been Slovakia's national competent authority within Eur ...

(NBS). He previously served as the country's Finance Minister under prime ministers

Robert Fico Robert Fico (; born 15 September 1964) is a Slovak politician who has served as the prime minister of Slovakia since 2023. He previously served as prime minister from 2006 to 2010 and from 2012 to 2018. He founded the left-wing political party D ...

and

Peter Pellegrini Peter Pellegrini (; born 6 October 1975) is a Slovak politician who is serving as the sixth president of Slovakia since 2024. He previously served as prime minister of Slovakia from 2018 to 2020. Pellegrini also served as the Minister of Health, ...

. He was a senior member of the social-democratic SMER-SD party, but left the party after assuming the governorship of NBS.

Early life

Kažimír studied International Commerce at the University of Economics in Bratislava. After graduation, he worked in the private sector as a tax advisor at the firm Schubert & partners. Since early 2000s, he held board-level executive positions at various companies, including VIVANT, Sceptrum Brno, PARTA – GAS, MATTI and DDP Credit Suisse Life & Pensions.

Political career

State Secretary and MP

In 2006, Kažimír became the State Secretary at the Ministry of Finance. At the same time, he sat on the board of National Nuclear Fund for Decommissioning of Nuclear Installations (NJF). Following the defeat of Direction-Social Democracy (SMER-SD) in

2010 Slovak parliamentary election Parliamentary elections were held in Slovakia on 12 June 2010. The elections were contested by eighteen parties, six of which passed the 5% threshold for sitting in parliament. Despite the incumbent Smer of Prime Minister Robert Fico winning a ...

, Kažimír shortly served as MP. After

2012 Slovak parliamentary election Parliamentary elections were held in Slovakia on 10 March 2012 to elect the 150 members of the National Council. The elections followed the fall of Prime Minister Iveta Radičová's Slovak Democratic and Christian Union – Democratic Party-led ...

when SMER-SD returned to power, Kažimír became the Minister of Finance.

Minister of Finance

In 2015, Kažimír was part of a team that secured the investment of

Jaguar Land Rover Jaguar Land Rover Automotive PLC is the holding company of Jaguar Land Rover, also known as JLR, and is a British multinational automobile manufacturer which produces luxury vehicles and SUVs and has its head office in Whitley, Coventry, Unite ...

in a £1bn plant, beating off stiff competition from

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

and

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

. According to ''

Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and also published digitally that focuses on business and economic Current affairs (news format), current affairs. Based in London, the paper is owned by a Jap ...

'', Kažimír developed a strong record on managing Slovakia's public finances since taking office. He earned respect for keeping budget deficits under control and became known for his tough stance in the

Eurozone The euro area, commonly called the eurozone (EZ), is a Monetary union, currency union of 20 Member state of the European Union, member states of the European Union (EU) that have adopted the euro (Euro sign, €) as their primary currency ...

's negotiations with debt-plagued

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

. By November 2017, Kažimír submitted his formal application for succeeding

Jeroen Dijsselbloem Jeroen René Victor Anton Dijsselbloem (; born 29 March 1966) is a Dutch politician and economist serving as Mayor of Eindhoven since 13 September 2022, succeeding John Jorritsma ( VVD). A member of the Labour Party (PvdA), he has also been Cha ...

as the next chairman of the

Eurogroup The Eurogroup is the recognised collective term for the informal meetings of the finance ministers of the eurozone—those member states of the European Union (EU) which have adopted the euro as their official currency. The group has 20 members ...

. During the vote on 4 December, he withdrew after the first round and Mário Centeno was eventually elected to the post. Kažimír was accused of paying a 48,000 euro ($54,000)-bribe in 2017-18 to the head of the national tax office over a tax audit of private firms. However, the supreme court spared him from trial. On May 29, 2025 he was convicted of bribery and fined €200,000.

Central Bank Governorship

In December 2019, the National Council approved Kažimír as the government's nominee to succeed Jozef Makúch in the office of the president of the National Bank of Slovakia. He took up the post on 1 June 2019.

International organizations

European Bank for Reconstruction and Development The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, shortened to EBRD ( French: ''Banque européenne pour la reconstruction et le développement'' or ''BERD''), is an international financial institution founded in 1991 in Paris. As a multilat ...

(EBRD), Ex-Officio Member of the Board of Governors (2012–2019) *

Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency The Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) is an international financial institution which offers political risk insurance and credit enhancement guarantees. These guarantees help investors protect foreign direct investments against ...

(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 Group ...

, Ex-Officio Member of the Board of Governors (2012–2019)

(MIGA),

. *

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 ...

, Ex-Officio Member of the Board of Governors (2012–2019)

Personal life

Kažimír has been married to Katarína Korecká since 2008. They have two children together.

References

External links

CV of Peter Kazimir, Slovak Ministry of Finance
', Bratislava, Retrieved on March 24, 2013. *Na Telo

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kazimir, Peter 1968 births Deputy prime ministers of Slovakia Finance ministers of Slovakia Governors of the National Bank of Slovakia Living people Direction – Social Democracy politicians Politicians from Košice Members of the National Council (Slovakia) 2010-2012