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 Portfolio may refer to: Objects * Portfolio (briefcase), a type of briefcase Collections * Portfolio (finance), a collection of assets held by an institution or a private individual * Artist's portfolio, a sample of an artist's work or a c ...

has a large variety of names around the world, such as "treasury", "finance", "financial affairs", "economy" or "economic affairs". The position of the finance minister might be named for this portfolio, but it may also have some other name, like "Treasurer" or, in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

, "

Chancellor of the Exchequer The chancellor of the Exchequer, often abbreviated to chancellor, is a senior minister of the Crown within the Government of the United Kingdom, and head of HM Treasury, His Majesty's Treasury. As one of the four Great Offices of State, the Ch ...

". The duties of a finance minister differ between countries. Typically, they encompass one or more of government finance,

fiscal policy In economics and political science, fiscal policy is the use of government revenue collection (taxes or tax cuts) and Government spending, expenditure to influence a country's economy. The use of government revenue expenditures to influence macr ...

, and

financial regulation Financial regulation is a form of regulation or supervision, which subjects financial institutions to certain requirements, restrictions and guidelines, aiming to maintain the stability and integrity of the financial system. This may be handled ...

, but there are significant differences between countries: * in some countries the finance minister might also have oversight of

monetary policy Monetary policy is the policy adopted by the monetary authority of a nation to control either the interest rate payable for federal funds, very short-term borrowing (borrowing by banks from each other to meet their short-term needs) or the money s ...

(while in other countries that is the responsibility of an independent

central bank A central bank, reserve bank, or monetary authority is an institution that manages the currency and monetary policy of a country or monetary union, and oversees their commercial bank, commercial banking system. In contrast to a commercial ba ...

); * in some countries the finance minister might be assisted by one or more other ministers (some supported by a separate government department) with respect to fiscal policy or budget formation; * in many countries there is a separate portfolio for general economic policy in the form of a ministry of "economic affairs" or "national economy" or "commerce"; * in many countries financial regulation is handled by a separate agency, which might be overseen by the finance ministry or some other government body. Finance ministers are also often found in governments of federated states or provinces of a federal country. In these cases their powers may be substantially limited by superior legislative or fiscal policy, notably the control of taxation, spending, currency, inter-bank interest rates and the

money supply In macroeconomics, the money supply (or money stock) refers to the total volume of currency held by the public at a particular point in time. There are several ways to define "money", but standard measures usually include Circulation (curren ...

. The powers of a finance minister vary between governments. In the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

, the finance minister is called the "

Secretary of the Treasury The United States secretary of the treasury is the head of the United States Department of the Treasury, and is the chief financial officer of the federal government of the United States. The secretary of the treasury serves as the principal a ...

", though there is a separate and subordinate

Treasurer of the United States The treasurer of the United States is an officer in the United States Department of the Treasury who serves as custodian and trustee of the federal government's collateral assets and the supervisor of the department's currency and coinage produc ...

, and it is the director of the

Office of Management and Budget The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is the largest office within the Executive Office of the President of the United States (EOP). OMB's most prominent function is to produce the president's budget, but it also examines agency programs, poli ...

who drafts the

budget A budget is a calculation play, usually but not always financial plan, financial, for a defined accounting period, period, often one year or a month. A budget may include anticipated sales volumes and revenues, resource quantities including tim ...

. In the

, the equivalent of the finance minister is the

. Due to a quirk of history, the Chancellor of the Exchequer is also styled Second Lord of the Treasury with the

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the Cabinet (government), cabinet and the leader of the Minister (government), ministers in the Executive (government), executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary syst ...

also holding the historic position of

First Lord of the Treasury The first lord of the Treasury is the head of the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury exercising the ancient office of Lord High Treasurer in the United Kingdom, and is by convention also the prime minister. This office is not equivalent to t ...

. This signals the Prime Minister's seniority and superior responsibility over the

Treasury A treasury is either *A government department related to finance and taxation, a Finance minister, finance ministry. *A place or location where treasure, such as currency or precious items are kept. These can be State ownership, state or roya ...

. In

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a List of cities in China, city and Special administrative regions of China, special ...

the finance minister is called the Financial Secretary, though there is a Secretary for the Treasury subordinate to him. In

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

, the senior minister is the

Treasurer A treasurer is the person responsible for running the treasury of an organization. The significant core functions of a corporate treasurer include cash and liquidity management, risk management, and corporate finance. Government The treasury ...

, although there is a Minister for Finance who is more junior and, , heads a separate portfolio of Finance and the Public Service. Finance ministers can be unpopular if they must raise

tax A tax is a compulsory financial charge or some other type of levy imposed on a taxpayer (an individual or legal person, legal entity) by a governmental organization in order to fund government spending and various public expenditures (regiona ...

es or cut spending. Finance ministers whose key decisions had directly benefited both the performance and perception of their country’s economic and financial achievements are recognised by the annual

Euromoney Finance Minister of the Year Between 1981-2016, ''Euromoney'' magazine awarded the Finance Minister of the Year award. This award was given to a country Finance Minister who reformed or innovated their countries economy during their tenure. In Australia, the award is colloquial ...

award.

Lists

List of current finance ministers This is a list of current finance ministers of the 193 United Nations member states, Holy See (Vatican City) and the State of Palestine. Finance ministers of List of states with limited recognition, sovereign countries with limited recognition ar ...

* List of female finance ministers

References

https://www.bundesfinanzministerium.de/ {{Types of government minister

Finance Finance is the study and discipline of money, currency and capital assets. It is related to, but not synonymous with economics, the study of Production (economics), production, Distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics) ...

Lists

See also

References